This important series looks at difficulties that kids deal with all too often and provides useful tips in age-appropriate language.

Stories of young children who make up exaggerated stories provide questions for a discussion about lying.

Say what you want to say -- Nothing's wrong with saying "I" -- Attacking and defending vs. speaking the truth in love -- Manipulation by guilt -- Ask and it shall be given you : how to make requests -- Free to say no -- Dealing with critical people -- How Matthew 18:15 keeps you from blowing up -- "If he listens to you" : the loving art of listening -- Wrapping the truth in love -- Telling the truth in (...) social talk : small talk. (shrink)

The complexity of these terms and their relationship with truth and truthfulness are put on display by the contributors to this volume.

Is it ethical to deceive the individuals who participate in psychological experiments for methodological reasons? We argue against an absolute ban on the use of deception in psychological research. The potential benefits of many psychological experiments involving deception consist in allowing individuals and society to gain morally significant self-knowledge that they could not otherwise gain. Research participants gain individual self-knowledge which can help them improve their autonomous decision-making. The community gains collective self-knowledge that, once shared, can play a role in (...) shaping education, informing policies and in general creating a more efficient and just society. (shrink)

The book concludes with a qualified defence of the view that honesty is a virtue.

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions (...) it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory." Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all. Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are. (shrink)

Subject to an /extremely/ limited set of exceptions, /all/ sting operations are /per se/ gravely and deeply immoral for the simplest and plainest of reasons: They are calculated and deliberate attempts to bring out the worst in a fellow human being, to play to their weaknesses, and to pander to their blind spots. Whether performed by the government, the media, private organizations—for-profit or not-for-profit, or private individuals makes no ethical difference whatsoever, except one: When the government does it, everyone begins (...) to think that such egregious behavior is just fine, although /it is anything but/. In fact, save violence and blackmail (and other like non-violent forms of extortion), there is precious little /worse/. (shrink)

Often, we believe what we believe because it is the only story available.

What is lying? -- Why do people lie? -- Little lies -- Lying hurts! -- When someone lies to you -- What if you tell a lie? -- What if you get caught? -- Making it right -- Put an end to lying -- Start telling the truth.

This title gathers together essays on deception, self-deception, and the intersections of the two phenomena, from the leading thinkers on the subject.

""The Habit of Lying" is a highly original, exceptionally sophisticated, continuously illuminating work of literary and cultural theory, and an intellectual ...