White LiesBlack Lies

—

Diana Mertz Hsieh—

Thursday, July 4, 2002—

13th Annual Summer Seminarof The Objectivist Center

—http://www.dianahsieh.com

diana@dianahsieh.com

Traditional Honesty Traditional honesty is the virtue of always

telling the truth (as believed) to others

Form: Absolutist, acontextual rule Content: Telling truth to others Justification: Altruism, collectivism

Traditional Form Traditional honesty is the virtue of always

telling the truth (as believed) to others

The virtue is of the form of an absolutist, acontextual rule

The growing problem:– Aiding evildoers– Acceptable to lie to protect others– Expanding notions of protecting others

Traditional Content Traditional honesty is the virtue of always

telling the truth (as believed) to others

The content of the virtue focuses on telling the truth (as believed) to others

Three problems:– Mere technical truth is permitted– Honesty with oneself ignored– Silence is overlooked as a moral option

Traditional Justification Traditional honesty is the virtue of always

telling the truth (as believed) to others

Virtue presumed or justified with altruistic-collectivistic arguments

The justification:– Honesty is necessary for trust in relationships– Those relationships are necessary to society

Traditional Honesty Recap Traditional honesty is the virtue of always

telling the truth (as believed) to others

Form: Absolutist, acontextual rule Content: Telling truth to others Justification: Altruism, collectivism

Recommended reading: Sissela Bok’s Lying and David Nyberg’s The Varnished Truth

Honesty in Objectivism Honesty is the virtue of refusing to fake the

facts of reality

Form: Contextually absolute principle Content: Refusing to fake reality Justification: Egoistic knowledge and trade

Recommended Reading: Tara Smith’s Viable Values

Dishonesty with Ourselves Two basic forms of dishonesty with ourselves

– Evasion: Refusing to think about what you know or suspect to be true

– Self-Deception: Persuading yourself of what you know or suspect to be false

Self-deception requires evasion

Dishonesty with Others Two forms of dishonesty with others

– Lies of omission: Misleading by avoiding what you know or suspect to be true

– Lies of commission: Misleading by asserting what you know or suspect to be false

Lies of commission require lies of omission

To be dishonest is to fake the facts of reality

Two axes of faking reality:– To whom?– By what method?

Dishonesty By avoiding truths By telling falsehoods

With oneself Evasion Self-deception

With others Lies of omission Lies of commission

Forms of Dishonesty

Why Be Honest? Establishing honesty as a virtue involves two

distinct questions:

– Why should we be honest with ourselves? To gain the value of knowledge

– Why should we be honest with others? To gain the values of profitable trade

Why should we be honest with ourselves?

– Maintaining and promoting life and happiness requires that we conform ourselves to the facts

– Knowledge of the facts requires honesty with ourselves

– Dishonesty does not change the facts, just unable to deal with them rationally

Honesty with Ourselves

Honesty with Others Why should we be honest with other people?

– Are there rational values that can only be generally gained through honesty with others?

– Are there rational values that will likely be lost through dishonesty with others?

– Yes! All the material and spiritual values that can be gained through trade with others

The Arguments Why should we be honest with other people?

– The values of honesty Profitable trading relationships with others Cultivated habits of honesty

– The disvalues of dishonesty Slippery slope of lies Distraction from important matters Self-deception and evasion

Major Value: Trade Profitable trading relationships with others

require the trust and reputation that comes only with honesty

Trust in present relationships Reputation within the broader community

The role of discovery of dishonesty

The Relevant Truth The traditional choice between the whole

truth, mere technical truth, and lies is a false alternative

Trade requires the contextually-relevant truth

If wish to have a particular sort of relationship with a person, then we ought to be sharing certain types of information at certain times in certain ways

Determining Relevant Truth Primary considerations of relevance:

– Intimacy of the relationship– Privacy of the information– Usefulness of the information

Secondary considerations of relevance:– Necessary background information– Information sought– Finding the right time– Benign expectations of dishonesty

Honesty and Force Must we be honest with someone initiating

force? No.

The easy question: Must we be dishonest with someone initiating force? No.

The hard question: When should we be honest and when should we be dishonest with someone initiating force?

Honesty and Irrationality We generally do not need to preserve the

trust of irrational people

But we do not wish to muddle the issues for others and thereby damage our reputation within the larger community

Dishonesty to irrational people can undermine the habits of honesty

The Habits of Honesty Consistent honesty helps cultivate the habits

of honesty necessary for resolving apparent conflicts between honesty and other values

The necessity of forethought in creating habits

Recommended Reading: Judith Martin’s The Right Thing to Say (Miss Manners)

Honesty and Benevolence Honesty does not require us to be mean and

nasty to other people!

Mean truths are often irrelevant truths

But we ought not appease the irrationality or promote the self-deception of others

Honesty and Privacy Honesty does not require us to violate our

own privacy!

We can always refuse to answer intrusive questions (directly or indirectly)

We can cultivate a habitual zone of privacy

Privacy versus concealing immorality

Honesty with Others The benefits of honesty with others:

– Profitable trade with others– Cultivated habits of honesty

The risks of dishonesty with others:– Slippery slope of lies– Distraction from important matters– Self-deception and evasion

Cost: Slippery Slope Every lie risks the necessity of more lies in

order to maintain the original lie, where each new lie increases the risk of exposure

Success in deceiving others often creates the slippery slope

We cannot know in advance which lies will create slippery slopes

Cost: Distraction Constructing and maintaining lies requires

time and effort that could be better spent on more productive and pleasurable pursuits

It is difficult to create and maintain an alternate reality

We have better things to do!

Cost: Dishonesty with Self Dishonesty with others may promote

dishonesty with oneself through guilt and cognitive trailblazing

Guilt over a misdeed or a lie to others

Biased viewpoint to others supports own bias

Acceptance of lie by others as evidence

Honesty with Others The benefits of honesty with others:

– Profitable trade with others– Cultivated habits of honesty

The risks of dishonesty with others:– Slippery slope of lies– Distraction from important matters– Self-deception and evasion

Values of Honesty Values gained by honesty with oneself:

knowledge of reality

Values gained by honesty with others: the values of profitable trade

The Honesty Challenge For those of you inclined to tell little white lies

or even big black lies…Try being fully and completely and relevantly honest with others for one month