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Why Lying Is Bad

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In this article, I am going to argue that lying is bad. In the first part of this article, I will elaborate briefly on the Formula of Universal Law (FUL), the Formula of Humanity (FUH), Consequentialism and what lying is. In the second part of this article, I am going to provide three reasons why lying is bad, and refute possible objections to this ideology. Lastly, I will end off by concluding my claim.

The FUL states that you should act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction. This means that a person should act that the principle of one’s act could become a universal law of human action in a world in which one would hope to live.
The FUH states that …show more content…

Lying robs the person on the receiving end of having a free choice to decide the other should they have known the truth; it robs them of the freedom to choose rationally. Also, the person who is lied to suffers if they do find out because they feel deceived and manipulated, and feel regarded as a person who doesn 't deserve the truth. When they see the damage caused by the lie, they doubt their own ability to assess truth and make correct decisions. This makes them become untrusting and uncertain about information provided to them and about the people around them and this too might affect or influence their ability to make free and informed choices. In the end, some of these people may seek revenge. In this case, the consequences are dire and …show more content…

However, according to FUH, by telling a white lie to a person, you are actually using a person as a means to achieve your end, which is to make the person happy. Although making a person happy at that moment does not seem to be morally incorrect, by telling a white lie you are already going against the FUH law. Also, according to the FUL law, if white lies become universalised, and everyone tells everyone a white lie, then there will be contradiction, therefore also going against the FUL law, making it actually wrong to tell a white lie based on this law. Lastly, according to Consequentialism, white lies should not be told as white lies actually seem to bring no harm at that moment, however, when the white lie is exposed, it brings about harm as firstly, your judgement will not be used again and secondly, by not telling the person the truth you might have caused him/her to make a wrong decision that could have harmed him/her. For instance, if someone came to ask if her outfit looks bad, and you say that it looks okay because you do not want to make her feel sad, so she wears it and she ends up being ridiculed by others over her outfit. She will find out that you told a lie, and will most likely never ask for your judgement or opinion again because she thinks that you did not tell her the truth before and thus are not trustworthy. Also, she

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