Is it ever right to lie?

You draw a picture for a friend. It is not good. They ask what you think.

Almost every child has been told two rules that cannot both be followed: always tell the truth, and do not be unkind. Here is why that is interesting rather than annoying. If both rules matter, then the question is never “should I lie?” but “which of the two things I value am I willing to pay for?”

Philosophers have gone to both extremes. Kant said never lie — not even to a murderer asking where your friend is hidden. He thought that if telling the truth had exceptions, then the whole practice of telling would come apart, because anyone could always claim one. Constant pointed out the obvious cruelty of this. Most people since have sided with Constant and felt uneasy about it, because his position is harder to state as a rule.

There is a third thing that is not really lying and has no good name. Saying “thank you for making that for me” is true. Saying “I love the colours” is true. Saying nothing is true. None of them say the picture is good, and none of them are honest answers to the question asked. Whether that counts as a small lie, or as something else entirely, is a question worth arguing about properly.

Try it

Keep a private tally for one day of every time you choose your words carefully so as not to hurt someone. Notice: does that feel like lying, or like something else with no good name?

What do you think?

Do you think there is a right answer to this question?

Yes, I think soNo — and here's whyI'm not sure yet

Talk about it

• Is there a difference between lying and not saying everything?
• Would you rather be told a kind lie or a cruel truth?
• If a lie protects someone, who is it protecting?

Yes, but… — the arguments people actually make

• Lying is always wrong, whatever happens.

  Then you must tell the murderer where your friend is hiding. If that feels unbearable, something in the rule is broken — either the rule, or your nerve.

• If lying is sometimes right, then anything goes.

  That does not follow. Most things that are sometimes right have conditions: it matters who is protected, whether they asked, and what happens next time.

• Being polite is just lying to be liked.

  Maybe. Or politeness is a way of giving attention without giving a verdict — saying you noticed, without saying it was good.

What other philosophers think

• Immanuel KantArgued that lying is always wrong, no exceptions — because if everyone lied when it suited them, promising and telling would stop meaning anything.
• Benjamin ConstantPushed back immediately: if a murderer asks where your friend is hiding, do you owe them the truth? Kant said yes, which almost nobody has been willing to accept.
• PlatoAllowed rulers a 'noble lie' for the good of the city — the first famous defence of lying to people for their own benefit, and a very slippery idea.
• AristotleLocated the virtue in the middle: truthfulness in what matters, and tact in what does not.

If you want to go further

• Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals — Immanuel Kant1785. The absolute rule against lying, stated and defended.
• On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy — Immanuel KantThe short, notorious reply to Constant — read both sides.
• Nicomachean Ethics — AristotleBook IV, on truthfulness as the middle between boasting and self-deprecation.

Most of these were written for adults, which is why it is worth reading them with someone older.