Kelzer

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Sarah Kelzer 2115 Walnut St. Cedar Falls, IA 50613 563-513-8771 Capstone, Spring 2014 January 21, 2014 Weekly Reflection Questions #1

1A. What is Boks perspective on lying? Is that a common view? What do you think of her view? Sisssela Bok, author of Lying, Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, gives an in depth analysis of lying. Boks gives ample examples of what lying can do. Lying can distort information, our situation, perceptions and choices. Lies can even affect the distribution of power by giving more power to the liar and taking away power from the deceived. Even ones objectives can become skewed by changing the desire of the initial objective, how to achieve and or even to create a new one. Bok acknowledges the fact that everyone depends on deception to get out of a scrape, to save face, to avoid hurting the feelings of others. Boks personal perspective is based off of the initial premise of Aristotle that states, lying is mean and culpable and that truthful statements are preferable to lies in the absence of special considerations. Bok believes that trust is a foundation for human society and that without it we collapse as a whole. However, Bok also believes there are special exceptions to lying and that not all of it should be eliminated. I believe that Boks perspective is a common view that lying is only for special circumstances. For example, when it would protect a life. However, I do not think the common view is practiced. Bok acknowledges the fact that everyone depends on deception to get out of a scrape, to save face, to avoid hurting the feelings of others. Even though it is an agreed upon statement that lying is wrong, it is used in daily conversation and done more often than it is truly necessary. I believe that Boks perspective is an ideal view that may not be realistically possible to achieve. White lies and technical lies are used to get around blatant lying. With those kind of lies in our society, I do not think Boks ideal will be achievable anytime soon. 1B. What would she say to Machiavellis views? Bok quotes Machievelli by saying that great things have been done by those who have little regard for good faith. Machievlli believes that lies are acceptable in certain situations and that the liar should have the ability to judge when lying is necessary. Because of this, I believe that Bok would mostly agree with Machievellis views on lying. If Bok were to debate with Machiavelli, I believe she would also say No one trivial lie undermines the liars integrity. But the problem for liars is that they tend to see most of the lies in this benevolent light and thus vastly underestimate the risks they run. Machiavelli views also states Men are so simple and so ready to obey present necessities, that one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived. I think Bok would also agree with this statement since she believes that the social ramifications of lying include the founding principles of society. 2. In Ekman, which lies do you think would be most difficult to detect? Explain. I believe that a half-concealment lie would be the most difficult to detect. Ekman says that half-concealments are when the truth is told, but only partially, Understatement, or leaving out the crucial item, allows the liar to maintain the deceit while not saying anything untrue. In this case, it would be hard to detect because you would have to analyze each individual fact. If you find one statement to be true, you might assume everything to be true. If you find out that something was skewed in view on purpose, you may jump to conclusions that everything you have been told has been a blatant lie.

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3. What are your most significant learnings from this weeks readings? The readings assigned in this weeks homework took an in depth view of the perceptions and ramifications of lying. I learned that there are many different views on lying and there is no one clear cut answer to whether something is worth lying for. Furthermore, there are many different types of lies that aid in blurring our moral lines. Basically, lying is situational and it still depends on the perceptions and past experiences of others. 4. List at list three questions on the reading that you would to discuss in class. 1) Bok says that lying causes trust to be damaged and that when it is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse. What kind of soci ety do we live in? Are we trusting or damaged? 2) Bok uses an example of a government official who believes it is necessary to lie in order to get a piece of legislation they believe to be important and urgent. Earlier, she stated that people may decide to abandon choosing for themselves an let others decide for them. Since government officials are supposed to make our decisions, does society have the right to be hurt and feel betrayed when they use lying as an advantage? 3) Ekman explains that there are many different types of lies, such as concealment and falsification. When someone is lied to and feel hurt, do they feel more or less betrayed by the type of lie they were told?