My father thought to sometime in his early twenties that spaghetti grew on trees, because that's what he had been told by his uncle at a young age. Good for a laugh or two, no harm in that. Lies are just lies, not inherently evil or accompanied by a cloud of bad karma.

I think there is such a thing as a good lie. Lies are bad, I admit that much but sometimes telling truth can bring a lot of bad things. For example, lying in order to save someone's life. I believe that is a good lie that may bring harm to yourself but as long as this is your decision to protect someone, then it is an honorable deed. It is a bad lie when you tell someone they look great in a dress when they really don't. And of course, I wouldn't say "you look ugly in that dress" but I would say something like "nah, I don't think that dress really suits you. Maybe something else?" This is why I don't really like white lies. Because even if the truth hurts, there are always ways to tell the truth in a not-so-hurtful way. Such as the way I have just presented.

Well, I hate to sound black and white about this, but lies are bad. Now, lies may have good outcomes, but that in itself serves no justification.

Yoko1992

Well, I hate to sound black and white about this, but lies are bad. Now, lies may have good outcomes, but that in itself serves no justification.

Ok, just have to ask, how is an action defined if not by it's outcome? If the results of an action have absolutely no relation to whether an action is good or bad, and I'm also assuming the intentions do not play into it, because I think we all agree it is possible to lie with good intentions, the how does one determine whether an action is good or bad, or whether the action even has any value or intrinsic properties at all?

To gangler: In reference to a humanist view I would say you did a great job on the analysis. But in Yoko's defense, there is a supernatural stance where a doctrine/higher authority defines the good and in this stance personal outlooks does not define/justify as a means to an end. The opposite is humanism/naturalism using human actions/reason to define the good. It is dependent on where you stand/what you believe in.

I used to believe in the statement "the end does not justify the means" but gangler's post has now confused me. XD I still believe in it but not as much as I did before. XD

Until I had read gangler's piece of writing, I had yet to form an opinion on the matter of truth and lies. I feel that gangler has offered quite the fresh view. I wholly agree with it.

There is no "good" lie. In the end, a lie is a lie >.>

We admit that lies are bad but it's difficult to lead a good life without being a liar even once. but for some good reason, don't want to hurt someone or make someone else receive hardship, we have to lie. that's possible to consider that is not really a lie, and we are also not a real liar.

i have been while a long time away from home but i still remember, always when i lied, don't know how but that couldn't fool my mom, she always look direct in my eyes and ask me: Are you lying now?... and so i stood that with my head full of words but nothing could come out of my mouth. that was really hard to lie my mom ... °~°

now i don't know what and how can a lie be a good one ...

Because they're insecure-manipulative-protecting self from disadvantage/harm, etc. There are many reasons. It's not right but it is justifiable if you twist it in a certain way.

1) Because they're too scared to tell the truth in case they get in trouble.

2) They believe it's better to say something good about someone to make them feel better, even if it's not true, than to tell the truth and hurt their feelings.

3) To fit in with society. You will get teased if you say you don't know how read a map but you won't if you lie and say you can. It makes you look better.

4) To get ahead in life. It's the short way to power and it presents more opportunities.

5) It may help avoid unnecessary conflict and maintain a sense of privacy. Of course, that's only if no one finds out.

6) This kind of opportunity won't present itself again.

7) To impress people.

I can't come up with anymore reasons. Lying isn't right. However, it is, in a way, what keeps our society the way it is. Most people don't lie to upset people. It's just that trust is lost. So, all in all, there are many reasons and it depends on your circumstance as well.

A good lie, is the one that even you can beleive, i mean, you really think is true (obviously deep inside your heart you know is a completely bunch of lies) and you can show the others, how you can trust on it and even bet on it... some people are experts on it jiji muy last gf was one of those people T_T (lol) but like i say in spanish "para alguien malo, alguien aun mas malo", that you can traslate like "for an evil person, other more evil" .. something like jejejeje

For how many times we are told that lying is bad when we are children, some of the first things we are told in life are overwhelming lies- Santa, the easter bunny, the tooth fairy, etc. In addition, the first words out of any adults mouth to a child when something is seriously wrong is "It will be ok" even if they know full well it will not be.

Even in our adult lives, we find friends or loved ones lying to each other on a regular basis but in the interest of sparing each other's feelings. I'm sure everyone knows someone who has told someone close to them that they don't look fat, tired, ugly, whatever the case may be if they are going through a rough spot and are self conscious about the way they look.

We also imply untruths every day through our media and our advertising. Do you ever expect your food to look as good as it does on the box? Do you ever expect a product to live up to all of its claims? Look at the back of just about any girls/womans shirt or dress on a store model and you'll see that it is pinned up around the waste to hug the torso tighter than it would ever naturally hang, even if you did manage to be that thin.

Why does the price of just about any commercial product end in 99 or 95? We subconsciously think of the lower dollar amount and ignore that we are essentially paying just a few cents less than the larger dollar amount.

And it extends far beyond that. From careful word selection in political movements that call oil drilling "natural resource management" to simple socially driven "white lies" that urge you to tell the cashier you're fine even on a bad day when they idly ask you how you are doing as you go through the line, our entire society functions through an elaborate system of lies.

I think lying can most times be avoided but there are certain and very situational times where lying can be used. A couple examples have been stated above already so I won't go listing them again. Lies, if used poorly, hurt the people who tell them and the people around them. Now I'm not condoning lying your way out of every little thing, but like I said it's very situational and those situations are usually few and far between.

Those little "white lies" that you have to tell people in order not to be mean are good in my opinion.

If something is normal, o common, it's ok. People lies... it's a human behavior