Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ To tell the truth sometimes it pays to lie

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This article (11 page PDF) is clever in many ways - sometimes too clever. You get your first hint of this when the author reminds to that the phrase 'to tell the truth' means (idiomatically) something like 'actually'. And though we are often told that all societies value honesty as an ethical virtue, the many ways we categorize lies says something else - why else would we have expressions like "white lies", "terminological inexactitude" and "economical with the truth"? Why is it OK to be "a little bit loose when talking abut weight"? According to the author, it is important to teach students about lying, and especially, to teach them when it is ethical (if ever), and how to decide. There are some great examples near the end of the article that will challenge readers who view the issue of lying as unequivocal. Image: India Times, Think you are good at lying? You could be a psychopath.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 24, 2024 11:27 p.m.

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