Title
Lying and deception : theory and practice / Thomas L. Carson.
ISBN
9780199654802 (paperback)
0199654808 (paperback)
9780199577415 (harcover)
0199577412 (hardcover)
Imprint
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.
Language
English
Description
xix, 280 pages ; 24 cm
Call Number
BJ1421 .C37 2010
Dewey Decimal Classification
177.3
Summary
"Thomas Carson offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date investigation of moral and conceptual questions about lying and deception. Part I addresses conceptual questions and offers definitions of lying, deception, and related concepts such as withholding information, 'keeping someone in the dark', and 'half truths'. Part II deals with questions in ethical theory. Carson argues that standard debates about lying and deception between act-utilitarians and their critics are inconclusive because they rest on appeals to disputed moral intuitions. He defends a version of the golden rule and a theory of moral reasoning. His theory implies that there is a moral presumption against lying and deception that causes harm - a presumption at least as strong as that endorsed by act-utilitarianism. He uses this theory to justify his claims about the issues he addresses in Part III: deception and withholding information in sales, deception in advertising, bluffing in negotiations, the duties of professionals to inform clients, lying and deception by leaders as a pretext for fighting wars, and lying and deception about history (with special attention to the Holocaust), and cases of distorting the historical record by telling half-truths. Carson concludes with a qualified defence of the view that honesty is a virtue."--Jacket.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-275) and index.
Lying
Deception and related concepts
Kant and the absolute prohibition against lying
Act-utilitarianism
Ross and rule-consequentialism
The golden rule and a theory of moral reasoning
The partial overlap/convergence of reasonable views
Deception and withholding information in sales
Deception in advertising
Bluffing and deception in negotiations
Honesty, professionals, and the vulnerability of the public
Lying and deception about questions of war and peace : case studies
Honesty, conflicts, and the telling of history : more case studies
Honesty as a virtue.
