Professor Elaine Englehardt, director for the study of ethics at Utah Valley State College, was the speaker at Humanists of Utah's March meeting. Englehardt stated that the first premise of her presentation is that there is no need to lie. "If we can think through difficult dilemmas, we will find that there are numerous acceptable actions and responses that don't need to involve lying. I see lying as a fundamental wrong and the need for truth telling a fundamental right."

Lying leads to a vicious cycle of trying to protect the initial untruth, which can cause harm. Consider the example of a newspaper reporter who was interviewed by a public relations person of a prestigious local hospital. The reporter had just finished an emotional roller coaster of birthing a premature infant who, thanks to top quality care, is healthy today. The public relations person embellished the events in the story he wrote in the hospital letter used to solicit charitable donations. He stated that the infant had survived as a direct result of charitable care provided by the hospital. The mother, while grateful to the hospital and its staff, had insurance and did not accept any charity care--she didn't require any. She used her position as a reporter for the Deseret News to question the ethics of the PR department of the hospital. In the end, the hospital had to issue a retraction and an apology.

"Epictetus, the early Stoic defended, above all, the principle, 'not to speak falsely.' In more modern times, Immanuel Kant took the prohibition against lying as his paradigm of a 'categorical imperative,' the unconditional moral law. There could be no exceptions, not even to save the life of a friend. Even Nietzsche took honesty to be one of his four 'cardinal' virtues, and the existentialist Jean-Paul Satré insisted that deception is a vice, perhaps indeed the ultimate vice.

Lying is essentially a social activity. As Bart Simpson states, "It takes two to lie--one to lie and one to listen." Lying not only involves other people, but is part of the intercourse that binds people together. In this imperfect society, we do lie and lying fundamentally hurts people. Lying particularly hurts those who are close to us as it betrays a trust that has grown.

--Wayne Wilson