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"The governor of She in conversation with Confucius said, "In our village, there is someone called 'True Person'. When his father took a sheep on the sly, he reported him to the authorities"  Confucius

Confucius replied, "those who are true in my village conduct themselves differently. A father covers for his  son, and a son covers for his father. and being true lies to this." 

Confucius 551-479 B.C.    (Analects )

Steven Luper writes, "In ancient China, sages tried to clarify something they called the dao (sometimes spelled tao). The term means "way." so their question was, "What is the way?"  What enables us to live well?" Confucius answered this question by replacing it with another. What is it to be ren? The term ren refers to becoming a person, and in effect Confucius was asking what it takes to develop as a person in the fullest way." (84)

Confucius gives us a negative golden rule, "Do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you."

Confucius elaborates saying that Ren is a matter of being shaped by li - or human convention of all sorts  - laws rules of etiquette, customs, rites...  So conventions make possible the distinctively human way of living

Confucius says, "Give your mother and father nothing to worry about beyond your physical well-being."

Family is at the heart of Confucian society Parents gave us life and are our first teachers

What is a lie?

Lying:   Sisela Bok, in her book Lying defines a lie as "an intentionally deceptive message in the form of a statement.

White Lie:  Box defines a white lie as "a falsehood not meant to injure anyone, and of little import."

Lies of Commission:   Direct statements that are outright lies.

Les of Omission; According to Jacques Thiroux,  "Not stating certain information that is vital to a decision, relationship, or other important human activity...to allow them to go on believing you have quit [taking drugs, drinking....] when you haven't, especially when        the issue is vitally important to your relationship..

Nonconsequentialist Views:

Kant's nonconsequentialist view would oppose lying , cheating, breaking promises, stealing because we cannot universalize these  because they would all be contradictory and go against human dignity 

Act Nonconsequentialism:  "Even though act consequentialists do not use consequences in their decision making or consider them important in their approach to morality, which is based upon feelings or intuition alone, they would not necessarily take a stand for or against these issues unless they felt like it.   it seems quite possible that they might feel like lying or breaking promises at one time and not feel like it at others.  ...and could change their positions on these matters from situation to situaion bsed upon how they felt at any particular time."

Consequentialist theories would bring ends, results or consequences into the picture.  They would say if a consequence would warrant it, then lying, cheating, and breaking promises would be the right thing to do.

Ethical egoists would allow for lying, provided that they could be reasonably sure lying would be in the best interest.

Act utilitarians may or may not lie, depending on what the best consequence for everyone affected by the act.

Rule utilitarians might have rules against lying & breaking promises if they thought that bad consequences generally would ensue if people didn't adhere to rules prohibiting these actions.

Depending on our ethical orientation, most of us would generally consider lying wrong and the act of a coward and see it as an action that destroys the trust that is so essential to vital human relationships.

Class exercise:   Should Mary tell John she had an affair with  Dave?
Answer this question based on various ethical frames of reference.

(Mary and John are 15 and  in a relatively stable relationship)
(Mary & John are in their 20's and engaged)
(Mary and John are  recently married.)
(Mary & John have been married for 15 years & have kids. Dave had been Mary's boss , they had planned on ending the relationship, and now he is moving far away)

Sir Walter Scott put it best: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!"