Is it naive to think that lying is immoral in every situation?
I suppose I should further explain this question, or rather, my own thoughts on this question.
I’ve heard all the theoretical situations people bring up when discussing this: Is lying about a surprise party wrong? What iif you had to lie to protect your children? What if you were being tortured and you were asked to reveal information that would risk the lives of others? While I pray that I’ll never have to face any of these situations (I hate surprise parties), what has me concerned most is the shift in authority. When we decide that lying is our moral responsibility based solely on our individual judgment of a particular situation, the rule become relative and there’s no way to declare it proper or improper. How can parents blame their children for lying to them; if the rightness of the action is in the judgment of the individual, no one can pass judgement on to another.
And if I take this approach to lying, what’s to stop me from applying it to other areas of morality?
These are the things I’m concerned with.
