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Hello Philosophy Fans!

UPDATE: we have a topic for the Meetup, Sunday, Dec. 21, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Pacific Time. We'll meet by Zoom this time; join in by phone or by computer with a microphone and (preferably) a webcam. Shortly before the meeting starts, I'll send a Zoom invitation with the link and some discussion notes.

If your plans to attend have changed, please update your RSVP.

The winner of the email vote and the topic for Sunday is:

WHY IS LYING WRONG? (OR, IS IT WRONG?) First, what makes lying wrong? Most agree that lying is wrong on the face of it (even if it’s justified in certain situations), but it's tougher to say exactly what the reasons are that lying is wrong. Second, if lying is wrong, is it inherently wrong, or is it wrong only because of the effects it has on people?

Third, imagine that you lie for what most would regard as lying for the greater good. For example, telling a white lie to avoid seriously hurting someone's feelings. Or protecting the person hiding in your attic by lying to the murderer at your front door who asks you if his intended victim is in your house. In cases like these, would you say the lie is completely justified and that you have done nothing wrong, or would you say that you've done a small wrong in order to prevent a larger wrong?
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READINGS for the topic – I have two light readings and a video for you this time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml
The BBC Ethics Guide on Lying is a quick-reading 11-page article that offers a long list of (alleged) reasons why lying is wrong. It also briefly discusses issues such as when lying is ethically justified, "white lies," mutually agreed deception, lying to those with no right to the truth, and the definition of lying.

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/lying/
Lying is a 3-page article by philosopher Tim Mazur and is published at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and in the journal Issues in Ethics. The article is an overview of the morality of lying from three competing frameworks in ethical philosophy, Utilitarian ethics, Kantian (Deontological) ethics, and Virtue ethics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hOG2A0mHdA
What is Wrong with Lying? This 51-minute video lecture by philosopher Sarah Stroud was hosted by the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility and the SMU Philosophy Department. "Most of us would confidently say that lying is wrong—or at least that many lies are wrong. But what exactly is wrong with lying? It turns out to be more difficult than one might have thought to answer this question. Some of the obvious potential explanations of the wrongness of lying prove unsatisfying on reflection; after surveying these, Professor Stroud presented her own account of what is wrongful in lying."
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