ABSTRACT
What teaching do we need to adopt to uphold truthfulness? Do we need to teach that lying is always wrong? Or that sometimes, maybe often, lying is unavoidable and justified? Are there honest lies (lies that are not lapses of virtue) as well as dishonest lies? Are there occasions when lying is a duty? If a teaching that we must never tell lies is a bad teaching (because it asks us to do the impossible or because there are occasions when we ought to lie) what should we replace that teaching with? Should we modify the teaching by tacking on certain exceptions? Do we need a strict rule but one that is narrower in scope? Does truthfulness require the same strictures against intentionally deceptive words or tricks that do not involve lying as against those that do?
