Conscience, Lies And Breaking Promises

Question 1

Lying

Answer 1

In most socs lying = intuitively wrong - involves deception of others and hiding truth - wont help form a god Soc
Lying = problem when lying for own benefit, destabilising soc
Corrie ten boom - lying for others - hid Jews and lied to Nazi officials to keep them hidden
Lying not just out of mouth - propaganda e.g. nazi germany - destabilising soc

Question 2

Fromm

Answer 2

Nazi lies created scapegoat for German ppl - seen as their fault - becoming ‘manipulated mass’ and lying = one way of manipulation - fundamentally auth can tell ppl whatever they like adn it’ll be followed and obeyed - authoritarian con
Humans lost social contact w/ each other in capitalist socs - become ‘emotionally impoverished’ - re establish genuine, fruitful relationships requires honest inds and honest soc

Question 3

Aquinas

Answer 3

Lying is irrational - conflicts w/ synderesis rule and goes against our reason
Lying violates orderly Soc - since ppl habitually lie to each other 0 break promises
An evasive truth is when you dont entirely lie but deviate from truth - axe murderer example

Seen as too rigid - most would intricinsically break any promise + lie to save a life

Question 4

Sociological perspective

Answer 4

Lying = socially destructive - stability of Soc depends on keeping promises and avoiding lies
Links to auth and hum con as auth con is that Ind may not break promise for fear of socs disapproval and hum would inform Ind telling lies the ethical norms that Soc needs to be fruitful

Question 5

Freud

Answer 5

Lying leads to guilt, anxiety and remorse
Come from subconscious mind
Super ego remains quiet as living and breaking promises is common in modern Soc - presumably parents = no prob with acts so made no prohibition to their children committing them