Necessity and lies | Rebecca Roache, Simon Baron-Cohen, Hilary Lawson

Is it ever right to lie? Is honesty ever wrong?

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Honesty is upheld as an age-old virtue of civilisation. Yet there are many instances where we deem lying desirable. Few would think it right for parents to be honest with their offspring about their favourite child, or to be honest about talents or abilities if it is likely to be hurtful for a relative, colleague or friend. Nor are we critical of Churchill for his rousing wartime speeches even if we now know he did not always believe them himself.

Should we recognise that lying can be valuable, and sometimes necessary, for ourselves and those in power? Or is honesty not only essential in public life but vital in all aspects of our everyday life as well? Alternatively, is the mistake to see honesty as a virtue and instead recognise it as an act that can be both good and ill.

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, Rebecca Roache, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Cambridge University, Simon Baron-Cohen, and non-realist philosopher, Hilary Lawson join Samira Shackle to scrutinize honesty and deception.

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