...Michael A. Miller Janet Joslin ENC 1101 October 12, 2013 “ The Ways We Lie “ and “ Too Much Pressure” In Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “ The Ways We Lie “, her thesis states “ lying , she finds , may be unavoidable and even sometimes beneficial” (348 ). In Colleen Wenke’s essay “ Too Much Pressure “ her thesis ask the question “ Why do students cheat n school? ( 482 )”. Both of these essays give their strong reasons on why these two things take place. For Ericsson it is situations that we are put in, and for Wenke the excuse is the stresses of life. Both of these essays are thought provoking in the aspect of the general views of the reasons why we do things. These essays discuss in great detail each author’s point of view and tone. The tone in “ The Way We Lie “ is that of it is just the way of the world and for that we really should not be surprised. In this essay when Ericsson states “ We lie, We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people’s feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, we justify lying to the big-guy institutions ( 348 )”. This tone has a what is the big deal feeling. In contrast the essay “ Too Much Pressure “ has a different tone. When the Wenke says “ A main difference between school today and school when my parents were enrolled is that we are now very goal-oriented and will compromise our values to achieve those goals” ( 484 ). Wenke also states “ Students who would not usually cheat get sucked into...
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...don’t want others to find out. Lying is the new moral of our modern day society. It's much easier to lie to someone than to tell the truth. In Ericsson’s essay The Ways We Lie, she describes nine descriptions and examples of lies we all say in a day. No matter how honest you try to be, most people ends up saying a lie. Sometimes lies are necessary, but does that really mean someone should build their life upon lies on top of lies. We tend to not pick them out as “water is to fish”. Throughout the essay it tells about how humans can lie in many different ways. As the quote states “our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish." Both cancer and garbage are used to describe the lying. Cancer is used to describe a...
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...Ericsson explains the different ways we lie and why we lie. The importance of this essay is to show that Ericsson has a strong article. By comparing tone, purpose, and evidence in the two essays, the reader can determine that Ericsson’s essay is stronger. Gunderman’s tone is formal. Formal tone can be difficult to understand his point of view. In his writing he uses case studies and quotes from scholars, which can be difficult for the reader to understand and relate. Gunderman writes: “Perhaps the most powerful more argument for honesty has to do with what the French...
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...Running head: ETHICS ESSAY Ethics Essay Rebecca Ferns University of Phoenix ETH316 Jamal Ibrahim June 12, 2013 Ethics Essay Introduction The BBC’s Ethics Guide (2013) explains, “At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.” However, there are various principles within the philosophical practice of ethics that shape how those decisions are made. In this essay virtual, utilitarianism and deontological theoretical ethical theories will be defined and compared. Virtue Ethics In the Basic Ethics textbook (Boylan, 2009), virtue ethics is defined as “taking the viewpoint that in living your life you should try to cultivate excellence in all that you do and all that others do. These excellences or virtues are both moral and non-moral. For instance, this principle takes the long look at one’s character and is somewhat forgiving of an occasional slipup that is not in consonance with that person’s historical character.” Thus, for instance, people who lied occasionally were not necessarily immoral or bad people if they did not lie regularly. These lies are especially acceptable for instance if the person only lies in order to protect another person’s safety or feelings. Utilitarianism Meanwhile, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Driver, 2009) explains that “utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. One thing to note...
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...protect and bulwark someone’s feelings and emotions. But in today’s society, most people would rather live sadly amidst truth than live happily amongst lies. The truth is that lying is unacceptable and intolerable because it hurts the liar and others around them. There are many reasons and facts that prove lying is bad. For example, being truthful is everyone’s individual duty. Another reason you shouldn’t lie is that telling the truth is much...
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...Growing up my parents taught me the lessons of life, dinner before desert, be yourself, and treat others the way you would like to be treated are just a few. In Mark Twain’s Essay, “Advise to Youth” the dos and don’ts of life are broken down with comedic whit and enlightened charm. Twain contradicts typical wisdom in an interesting way, telling you the realities of life in a more “bread and butter” manner, skipping over deep advice and giving you the authentic truth to how the world works. In this work the reader is left with simplistic, real advice to how the world works but because the morality of it is wrong, you’re left to wonder if Twain has taught you right from wrong simply by telling you the truth. Twain starts his essay by talking about dealing with parents and your superiors. Rather than telling you to listen because they are wise and know best the way one is typically taught, Twain suggests his readers humor their elders with the idea that they know best. In doing this Twain speaks directly to his teenage audience whom already believes that they know what is best for themselves. Going further into the sarcasm and contradiction throughout the essay, one could suggest Twain was humoring his target reader. By pointing out that humoring adults who believe they know better will get you further to teens who believe they know better, Twain is using his own advice to get through to his reader. When Mark Twain writes about dealing with people who have offended you he suggests...
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...national and global societies have suspicious feelings toward the intentions of politicians. This essay will highlight the fact that the role of a professional politician, where instant decisive and important decisions need to be made, and the context sometimes require democratically elected politicians, engaged in a social contract with the electorate, to lie to safeguard the greater good of national and global citizens. Due to the volume of theory and discourse related to this topic, it would not be practical to analyse all aspects to this question. However, this essay will examine the following: first, it will look at the unique nature of the role of a politician, followed by an overview of the social contract theory and the contributions made to it by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Rawls. Then, the work of Niccolo Machiavelli and the notion of Reason of State will be examined, followed, in turn, by Utilitarianism, commenting on the contributions of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This will be done before going onto balance the essay by introducing a counterargument offered by Idealism. Finally, to contextualise the thesis, there will be a contemporary example given of a world leader having to lie for the greater good of global citizens for possible prevention of future harm. Politicians work in a difficult profession and what they do is for the common good of society as a whole. Bellamy (2010) asserts that evidence to suggest that democratic politicians...
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...101: Critical Response Essay 20 February 2015 Results of a lie What is the reason for lying? When is a lie acceptable? Who does a lie hurt most? These questions are answered in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Ways We Lie.” Ericsson begins by dishonestly calling the bank of her deposit check; stating it was in the mail, when it was not written yet. Lies arose, one after another. It started by explaining to a client her tartness due to traffic, hiding the fact that her day was terrible from her husband and denying a lunch invitation from a friend since she was busy (290). Lying provides individuals a way to escape confrontation; only during certain situations are lies tolerable; on the other hand lies can hurt the liar and the victim. It is human nature to lie, but that is not a reason to do such actions. Rather than expressing their true feelings some people believe that lying is easier, and most of the time it is the first choice. Ericsson emphasizes, “We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare peoples feelings” (290). A lie becomes second nature to many; it is the go to option when wanting to dodge certain individuals. Trying to save the feelings of victims of a lie, people run to a dishonest face only fantasizing that the lie will protect the victim’s feelings. Even the small lies counts, when asked how their day was people tend to respond with “good” hiding the fact it was the worst day ever. It is simpler to lie than to explain why...
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...Moreover, we also have educated that it is better to accept the consequences of any actions than to lie. However, the more they grow up, the more they know about using of lying because telling the truth cannot always solve the problem. From the point of view, some lying is acceptable, some is not. It depends upon what purposes that make people tell lies. The first point to note is that although telling lie is easy to get things in the short period of time, it will create a bad impression on the next generation as well as it does not give any benefit on long way. For example, if you tell some lies to the children such as smoking doesn't effect on everyone around, what will they learn in their future? It is dangerous for everyone too aware of wrong way because of adult. Another point they would like to mention is that if they always cheat others many times, one day lie will befall upon anyone and will lose prestige in relationships. The story telling about a shepherd rearing the sheep is typical example. It cheats villagers many times that there was wolf on the hill. When they run to save it but found no wolf, they became angry with it. And then when the wolf really came, no one bothered it. Finally, the wolf attacked it sheep and also killed the boy. It was due to the own sin that the boy got the kill. On the other hand, in some situations, telling the truth leads to more bad than good. So with this lying is used will make others in the relationship feel better about themselves...
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...Guidance In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them to get through the unsteady difficulties life brings to all human beings. The problem is that none of these children are being raised right nor given good advice that will help them succeed in life. Countless people believe that if a child grows up in an unstructured household, then he or she will not be instilled with the right morals, ethics, and values, which is untrue. But, today, the youth in our society is being inspired by the ignorance we see on social media and it is not heading in the direction of righteousness. In the essay “Advice to Youth” by Mark Twain, he offers some seemly good advice to the young people. The advice he offers is that “all young people are given rules or advice to guide them as they grow up and to keep them on the right path to live a good life”. Mark Twain states “Always obey your parents, when they are present”. Yes, you should obey your parents, but if they are not present, you cannot solely rely on their standing orders to make the best decision. Of course you should be respectful to your superiors, but if those same people are not respectful to you then you cannot be expected to continue the gesture of being respectful towards them. With a statement like that, society presumes children are more likely to have behavior problems because they would not believe in showing respect toward their...
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...consequences. Virtue ethics and deontology are different in the way that moral dilemmas are approached and solved (Virtue Ethics, n.d.). Telling lies is wrong even if the results are good according to deontologists. A virtue ethicist is someone who focuses on the decision to lie more than on the lie told in the first place. While virtue ethics are considered self-centered and they should not be used to guide our actions. These ethics will encourage people to get rid of bad habits and help develop new character traits. A virtue ethicist will in any instance worry less about the lie and think about the decision to lie or not, tells about someone’s character and morals. Lying could be based on a case by case situation, based on personal benefit, intentions and a group benefits from it (Virtue Ethic, n.d.). Following rules would be considered the use of deontology or duty ethics. Deontology approaches the ethics that judges morality based on how you adhere to a rule or rules (Davidson College, 2002). These rules are considered to be a point of contention and criticism in deontological ethics. All actions are judged on how they adhere to or lack, to an objective moral code of ethics. A deontologist will argue that lying is wrong, no matter the outcome that might happen from it (A Basic Introductory Essay, n.d.) Following universal norms that tell us what to do, how we need to behave, and lets us know the difference between right and wrong is what deontological ethics is all about...
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...Ethics Essay Nancy Castro Ethics 316 Ruth Embleton March 7, 2012 Ethics Essay Comparing and contrasting ethical theories helps one to understand ones guidance system, which helps or aides one through their decision-making process. “Each theory emphasizes different points such as predicting the outcome and following one's duties to others in order to reach an ethically correct decision.” (2011) each theory has a familiar thread with a goal. In this paper each of the following three ethical theories utilitarianism, Virtue, and Deontological will be described relating to ethics and morality. Concluding with an example with which the relationship between virtue, values, and moral concepts as they relate to utilitarianism. Utilitarianism Utilitarianism ethics emphasize that action should be morally beneficial to a group. This course of ethics is often known as “the greatest good for the greatest number” or simply put, “the greater good” (Boylan, 2009). In other words, the consequence of any ethical action should be beneficial by mass appeal. This is a common underlying theme for ethics in capitalist economies and business as well as in democratic governments (Boylan, 2009). Virtue Theory The virtue theory, also known as virtue ethics, focuses more so on the character of a person rather than the rules and consequences of specific acts. What this essentially means is that the primary focus is whether or not the person acting ethically is a person who upholds...
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...The following essay will briefly explain the theories of Virtue, Utilitarianism, and Deontological Ethics. This essay will further describe how each theory addresses ethics and morality. Lastly, it will provide a brief personal experience explaining the relationship among virtue, values, and moral concepts as related to virtue ethics. Virtue Ethics Virtue Ethics postulates that virtue can be attained by self-discipline and practiced behaviors. By continually striving for virtue in everything one does, one can learn to be good, thus becoming good, and lastly be viewed as good by others. A prime example of Virtue Ethics is Aristotelian Mean ethics which basically states that individuals should strive for virtue by seeking the median moral value that lies between two extremes, e.g. cowardice, courage, and foolhardy. (M. Boylan, 2010.) Utilitarianism Is an ethical theory of acting that basically states that the most moral of actions is to choose whichever one will produce the most good for the largest group. In short Utilitarianism supports the notion that the needs of many outweigh the needs of few or of one. Deontology Deontology is a moral theory that deals with doing a thing simply because it is the right thing do. Deontology doesn’t take into account any other factors such as the consequences of committing an action. If the action itself is good and just then the Deontologist must choose that action as morally correct. I interpret this to mean that Deontology is about...
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...easily affected. The media raise them. They're raised by the idea that likes and comments are the definition of their popularity and how likeable they are. This is also some of the topics Jonathan Franzen talks about in his essay: "Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts". In the essay by Jonathan Franzen, he passes through a lot of topics. He's very critical towards the technology, which has developed aggressively throughout the last couple of years. He uses a lot of experiences from his own life such as when he talks about his new Blackberry (s. 1, line 1-4). He also talks about how we all want to be likeable. We all want to be accepted and liked by everyone. But it is just not possible. We use the technology to hide behind. The world of liking becomes dominant and that takes out the meaning of loving someone. Because when you love someone, then you expose yourself, which makes you vulnerable. So we hide on the social medias. We do not expose ourselves, but we can portray ourselves just as we like on the media. No one needs to know all the bad stuff. It's obvious that Jonathan Franzen really tries to engage a younger audience. His use of sarcasm and his choice of words makes it really catchy and interesting to read. In the beginning of the essay he talks about his Blackberry, as was it a real person: "but over the years the bloom had faded from our relationship. I'd developed trust issues with my Pearl, accountability issues, compatibility...
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...Lie: My Favorite Word and Why At one point, people lie about something they have done or they did not do as expected. Lie is a word that my friends and I have used frequently and continue to use in our lifetime. Basically, the usefulness of lie in both bad and good situations is the rationale behind why it is my favorite word. During my childhood, I have used lie in both occasions: in bad and good situations. For instance, I once lied to my teacher that I was unable to make it to school in time because my mum car broke down about two kilometers away in order to avoid punishment. Again, I lied to my friends that I would not attend their party because I was not feeling well; however, the main aim was to prepare myself in the upcoming examinations. This essay paper reviews the lie as my favorite word and rationale behind by preference towards it. Lie is a three-letter word which is simple to pronounce, write and remember. According to Shaw, Wolfe and Salbu (1996), a lie is a deliberate false statement directed to other people to deceive them. Notably, it is profoundly surprising that people use lie frequently without much thought on the impact it has on others. Through my childhood, I can attest that the word lie has a huge impact on events and scenario it creates. For instance, our friends lied to us that will not be attending my brother’s birthday just two hours before the event. Their lie caused anxiety, dejection and worry to my family. However, they came few minutes...
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