lying

Question 1

natural moral law

Answer 1

• lying violates primary & secondary precepts (educate young/ordered society) as creates constant lack of trust
• if husbands lied to their wives, marriage wouldn’t be safe & if people lied in business transactions then property wouldn’t be safe
• ‘do not lie’ is a biblical commandment
• ‘lying is in itself evil’ summa theologica
• however it is ‘lawful to hide the truth by keeping it back’ so you can tell a misleading truth e.g. a made axeman comes to you & asks where is his victim (your friend who is in your house) you can tell a misleading truth by saying you saw them 2hrs ago at a football match

Question 2

proportionalism

Answer 2

• could justify lying as preserving innocent life in axeman example

Question 3

situation ethics

Answer 3

• depends on situation & agape love
• example: decision of birtish intelligence during wwii was to let female agents return to germany to certain death & had to keep it a secret so germans wouldn’t know we broke their code
• this is acting out of love for majority of people & it was pragmatic as it worked & they considered likely effects the options would have
• without doing this lie thousands would’ve died so this was most loving thing
• fletcher isnsits there is no intrinsic right or wrong in regards to lying
• rightness/wrongness of act is situational & only absolute is to affirm agape love