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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 177.3
EAN num: 9780375705281
ISBN number: 0375705287
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: September 14, 1999
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: September 14, 1999
Sale Popularity Level: 19273
Studio: Vintage
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A thoughtful addition to the growing debate over public and private morality. Looks at lying and deception in law, family, medicine, government.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I found this analysis of lying and it's moral implications very interesting and inspiring. The field of morality and psychology of lies is rather unexplored, and this book can provide a good beginning for students interested in the subject.
Rated by buyers 
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Dissecting Pinocchio: How to Detect Deception in Business, Life, and Love
I own this book and believe it is one of the best philosophical texts on interpersonal deception available.
If you are considering purchasing it, I highly recommend you also buy my book, Dissecting Pinocchio. Where Sissela Bok approaches this topic from the philosophical side, I address the practical aspects of deception and how to avoid the "blackest" lies told to us.
Rated by buyers -
This book could be a model of how to make ethical arguments more accessible to general readers. One of the better books I have read. It helps show that the arguments against lying and dishonesty are fairly clear cut and much more restrictive than many seem to believe.
Rated by buyers -
Quoting one philospher and paraphrasing another, she begins an insightful critique of "Paternalistic Lies" (Chapter XIV) with a bang.
"The abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the introduction of falsehood. As if there were two hells, one for sins against love, the other for those against justice!" --Blaise Pascal, Pensees
"Conquest, birth, and voluntary offer: by these three methods, said Hobbes, can one person become subjected to another. So long as questions are not asked--as when power is thought divinely granted or ordained by nature--the right to coerce and manipulate is taken for granted." (p.204)
"And Odysseus asked to be tied to the mast of his ship when approaching the Sirens, who were 'weaving a haunting song across the sea,' bidding his sailors to take more turns of the rope to muffle him should he cry or beg to be untied." (p.204)
"A danger arises whenever those who deal with children fall into the familar trap of confusing 'truth' and 'truthfulness.' It may lead them to confuse fiction and jokes and all that departs from fact with lying*. And so they may lose track of what it means to respect children..." (p.207)
"...Equally destructive are those dour adults who draw the opposite conclusion from their confusion of fiction and deception and who try to eradicate both from the lives of their children." (p.207)
* "The confusion of fiction and deception has long antecedents. Plato stated in the Republic (597E) that artists and playwrights are at 'three removes' from nature. Augustine and others argued, on the contrary, that what they convey, and what is conveyed in the use of symbol and ritual, is not deceptive, because it is not intended to mislead." (footnote on p. 207) [Upon learning this, my faith in the Catholic church went up by several dB's.]
* "But even though fiction and lying are in themselves quite separate, there are, of course, a number of borderline regions and areas where one invades the other. If an author really means to manipulate through his writing, as in propaganda...if the author of a play has no intention to decieve anyone but finds that a gullible enthusiast in the audience leaps to the rescue...in all these cases, the elements of fiction and deception are interwoven." (footnote on p. 207)
So there I have it. Somewhere in all that analysis lies the answer to where Academic Propaganda comes from. It comes not only from a lack of respect for student or child, but also from too much truth and not enough truthfulness (as in not making up and not telling helpful fairey tales to children and students).
One should accept good forms of Paternalistic Deception as in fairey tales. One should reject evil forms of Paternalistic Deception as in exposing a child to too much knowledge (too much truth) from the adult world.
Rated by buyers -
"Lying" is a thought-provoking exercise in applied ethics. The author, Sissela Bok, applies her razor-sharp intelligence to a variety of common deceptive practices, such as dishonest social science research or official deceptions about foreign policy. She believes that analyzing specific cases is a far better way to advance ethical knowledge than developing grandiose philosophical theories. (She's certainly right about that!)
Bok could be described as an enlightened utilitarian: she concedes that the benefits of lying can occasionally outweigh the costs, but she insists that the costs be weighed realistically and sensitively. To do so, she proposes the use of a hypothetical "publicity test" to consider how reasonable people would discuss and evaluate the broad, long-run effects of a deceptive practice. The test would cast its net widely and assess the impact of deception on duped individuals, the level of social trust, and the characters of liars themselves. When considered this way, the costs of deception almost always outweigh the benefits, Bok believes. She concludes that any ethical evaluation of a deceptive practice should proceed from a strong presumption that lying is wrong.
Her book is great. It's clearly written, filled with references to classic philosophical literature, and savvy about the routine deceptions practiced in government and the professions. As she puts it, if knowledge is power, then lying alters the balance of power. I definitely want to read the companion volume on "Secrets." I knocked off one star only because some sections of "Lying" tend to meander and reach no clear conclusions. Maybe that's a problem inherent in casuistry.
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