"This above all; to your own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, you cannot be false to any man." -Shakespeare, "Hamlet."

What is a lie?

• Imparting information you know to be false.
• Deception: intentionally misleading, in words, gestures, silence, withholding information.

Why should truth be fundamental to society? (Louis Day)

• Deception undermines individual autonomy.
• Respect for persons as end, rather than tools to manipulate.
• Trust.

Responsibility of journalists

• Accuracy
• Promote understanding.
• Fair.

Responsibility of public relations practitioners/advertisers

• Lying ruins credibility, may be illegal in advertising.
• Hazards to health and safety must be disclosed.

Can journalists deceive?

• Act as anonymous restaurant reviewers?
• Dress up in lab coats to investigate hospital ER?
• Hide in the bushes?

Kant's "compelling reason"

• Reason for deception must be important.
• Decision must be made for humanitarian purposes, not self-interest.
• Arguments in favor of deception FAR outweigh arguments against compromising truth.

Activity: Describe in writing an instance from your own life in which you used a lie or deception to achieve a goal. It may have been with an employer, your parents, your teachers, your friends, a girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse.

1. Why did you feel the lie/deception to be necessary?
2. What were the consequences?
3. Did it meet the test of Kant's "compelling reason?"
4. If you were to do it again, would you make the same decision?