Thursday, March 12, 2015

Lying

I do it several times a day, and apparently so do you! Lying is endemic in our society, but Sam Harris believes things don't have to be this way. In his book Lying, he tells us why and how we are better off if we stick to the truth in all but the most extreme circumstances.

The theme of the book appeals to me a great deal. I think we have a lot to gain from more honest relations with each other. Unfortunately, our personalities are such that we also have a lot to lose. I didn't find Harris' arguments convincing that our relationships would be better off by totally eliminating lying.

I'm not saying he's incorrect, he might very well be right. I just didn't think he did enough to present evidence in his favour, so for now I'm going to stick with my default. Since I don't want this write-up about the book to be longer than the book itself, I better stop now.

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