This week in class we finished discussing Plato and his philosophy. One thing that Plato talked about was a noble lie. My question is, what makes a lie noble? In some cases, a lie is better for someone to hear. However, it is still a lie. Even though it is for the good of someone else, it is not necessarily noble.
Lies told, such as telling young children that Santa Clause is real or telling a good friend that whatever she's wearing does not make her look fat, are small lies that could pass as being noble. They're told for the betterment of those that are lied to. However, what if you were raised in a loving family with people who cared for you and took care of you the best way they knew how? In their hearts, they were kind, but the way they made a living was illegal. If faced with the decision to turn your family in to the police when questioned by them or to lie and try your best to keep them from being arrested or facing criminal records, would lying be noble?
In my mind, if I was raised in a family like this and I was faced with the same situation, I would lie to the police because that would be in the best interest of my family and myself. Although breaking the law is wrong and what they are doing is or could be dangerous to others, I feel like lying would be saving their lives. However, even though I feel like lying would be better for us as individuals, it is not a "noble lie".
From my understanding, a noble lie does not have a dramatic effect on an individual in the long run. For example, telling a kid Santa is real is a part of being young, but if you were to tell them that he wasn't at a young age that would not have a life threatening affect on them unlike turning in or not turning in someone to the police. Telling a lie to the police helps that individual and his/her family, but does that make the lie noble? In my opinion, it does not.
Going on what you said with if your family is involved in illegal activity to provide for you and the rest of the family. I think you should stand by your family and lie to avoid putting them in prison. However I think you should try to improve your living standers by either moving from the area and finding an honorable way of making a living.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about lies being noble even if it for an individual.
ReplyDeleteIf telling a lie gives someone joy, hope, faith, or happiness, is it really bad? Like telling a child that Santa is real will give them something to look forward to and some kind of joy and happiness. But telling the child the truth about Santa will not have a dramatic effect on that child's life. that lie is considered noble.
What if you caught a love one's lover cheating on them, and your loved one asked if you think their lover has been acting strange and you lie telling them no. In this situation, telling the person the both the truth or the lie will have a dramatic effect on this person's life. Even if you lie with good intentions of not hurting them, it is not a noble lie because it will have dramatic effects on this person.
So even if you tell a lie with good intentions, if it has a dramatic effect on a person's life, wither it be as an individual or as a group, it is not considered a noble lie.
I believe it's definitely not a noble lie to keep your family out of prison. Like you stated, we have to look at the long-term effects. A noble lie, in essence, is not harmful and beneficial in a way. Lying to the police is beneficial as well, but you are endangering the public by concealing the facts. The virtuous thing to do would be to snitch on your family, but we know that not many people would agree with Aristotle.
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