Lying and Deception: Theory and Practice

by Thomas L. Carson

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. The book concludes with a qualified defence of the view that honesty is a virtue.

Genres: Philosophy

302 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Thomas L. Carson, Ph.D. (Brown University, 1977; B.A., Saint Olaf College, 1972) is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. He has been a member of the editorial boards of American Philosophical Quarterly, Public Affairs Quarterly, Journal of Happiness Studies, and Business Ethics Quarterly.