The nature of forgiveness is the key to the correct answer. In human relationships there's a difference between cognitive and affective forgiveness. In human relationships the more you understand the more you can forgive and that applies to your both intelligence and your feelings.FlashDangerpants wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:07 amconsider the followingg two sentences and you tell me if you can honestly say they make as much sense as each other...Belinda wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:00 amLying is wrong solely in the context of betraying trust between persons. Consider a white lie that the liar does for the good of another. There is a pay- off for white lies which is that the lie if found out will spoil trust. Mutual trust is the benefit of not telling lies.FlashDangerpants wrote: ↑Sat Jun 25, 2022 6:14 pm
You have a paradox now.
Lying is wrong only in context.
But you aren't saying that lying isn't wrong in its own right.
And you aren't saying that the wrongness of lying lies in anything other than itself.
The only thing you are able to make your mindd up about is that you aren't exactly saying things.
Morality is social hygiene.
Mary forgave Jediah for a small lie about where he got the money
Jerry forgave Tom for a small truth about where he was that day
It's a fucking given that you need additional justification for lies, and that you don't need the same for truths. There's an obvious reason for this! And it provokes an obvoious question....
Why am I being lectured by moral "realists" who are too shit to be able to explain even THAT lies are inherently wrong, let alone why??????
Therefore both Mary and Jerry can more easily forgive the more they understand the intentions of Jediah and Tom.
According to the Intentions Theory of Forgiveness, some lies are easier to forgive than some truths and vice versa. Lies always require extra justification because one lie undermines trust until an explanation is accepted by the person lied to, and some people will never understand.
In the special case of social control e.g. politicians and policemen honesty is best in all cases because all societies are founded on a default of mutual trust.
A Poison Tree
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
Edited:I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.And it grew both day and night.
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
I have to change my mind about "politicians and policemen should never lie". Sometimes the greater good justifies lies, for instance to an enemy during a just war or to a dangerous criminal or suspect during detection or arrest.On the same note we can all easily forgive a vulnerable innocent who is escaping the control of an aggressor. So the question of lies boils down to what is the greater good. William Blake had an agenda which was to free people from control by what we now call market forces who were enslaving people by lying to them that the status quo was inevitable, good even!