Augustines Views on Morality of Lying - Essay Example

number and Paper Augustine’s Views on Morality of Lying Outline I. Introduction A. Background Information B. Thesis statement: St. Augustine’s views on the morality of lying played an important role for maintaining Christian morality and were often objected and criticized, encouraging more discussions of the issue under consideration. II. Body A. Definition of lying by St. Augustine: a. It is a process that meets three defined criteria b. Jokes and wrong beliefs are not lies B. Roots of Augustine’s moral absolutism a. Devotion to the Christian faith b. Lying is itself evil, regardless of consequences C. Differentiation of malice in eight examples of lying D. Defense of Augustine’s convictions a. His ideology stems from the extreme consistency with his faith b. Augustine aim at the common good III. Conclusion: A. Short summary of the ideas presented . The morality of lying has been the topic of interest of many ethicists and philosophers for centuries. Subsequently, various opinions concerning the essence of the notion as well as concerning its permissibility were expressed. As a result, today, it is possible to regard the morality of lying from quite different perspectives applying different theories or moral beliefs. In this context, St. Augustine should be regarded as one of the key figures in the discussions dedicated to the issue of the morality of lying as far as his persuasions both played an important role for maintaining Christian morality and were often objected and criticized, encouraging more discussions of the issue under consideration. To start with, in order to better realize St. Augustine’s views on the morality of lying, it is essential to define first what was actually understood under the notion of lying by the prominent theologian and philosopher. According to him, lying is a process that consists of intentionally telling or denying something that is not consistent with what one knows or believes, holding the aim of deceiving a person. ("New Advent") Subsequently, for a statement to be defined as a lie, it has to meet three criteria: firstly, a statement must contradict the real state of things; secondly, a person must be aware that the statement is not true; and thirdly, the goal of the person must be a deceit. Therefore, every act which matches the given definition is a lie, and, more importantly it is always impermissible. In contrast, jokes and false things which are believed to be true are excluded from the discussion as they cannot be regarded equal to lies. The rationale behind St. Augustine’s views that lying is not permissible under any circumstances lies in the very nature of lying as morally wrong and sinful. The definition suggested is clearly an example of moral absolutism as it holds that any act of lying, as it was defined above, is against God’s commandments and is destructive, so it cannot be tolerated. (Geisler 66-69) Namely, it was explained by the philosopher that God gave people speech for them to share thoughts and in this way, maintain the foundations of the society. Therefore, speech should be considered as a gift and the condition of using it is perceiving speech as such. In contrast, telling a lie would oppose and reject the fact that speech is a gift by assuming that speech can be owned by a person as if it was created solely for the speaker’s pleasure from nothing. (Outka and Reeder 119-121) It follows that the property of lying is that it presupposes a kind of perversion of the language which is capable of splitting a person in half by dividing the inner self as well as of negatively influencing the way a person connects to other. Subsequently, the morally important negative outcomes of lying start from the range of effects on the liar him/herself, because it is self-destructive. In other words, telling a lie becomes the condition of either rejecting the God’s will or denying that this will ever existed. In any case, the Christian faith becomes weakened. As a result, lying is regarded as a sin and as all sins it destructs the proper relationships with God. What is more, the absolute unacceptance of lying by St. Augustine is reinforced by the fact that consequences of the process of lying were not taken into consideration, or, more precisely, they were not regarded as important enough to serve as an excuse of lying. According to St. Augustine, the biggest evil of telling a lie is hidden in the very process of lying rather than in consequences which telling the lie can produce. (Geisler 66-69) Consequences are not important, even in case a lie would bring good to the parties involved or would save one from violence, because the most important is to preserve the chastity of the soul than the integrity of the body. Putting it in other words, the body and secular needs can be sacrificed for the sake of sacred and the soul as far as the pleasures and sins of the body are less important than those of the soul. St. Augustine’s conclusions further hold that it would be irrelevant to use a lie in order to safe one’s temporal life since the eternal life would be ultimately lost. Continuing the discussion, Augustine provides a long examination of the several examples of lying, which are used to better illustrate his position. Namely, he mentions eight situations, each differing in the degree of seriousness, malice produced by lying and intentions of the liar. The first one touches upon religious matters; then goes lying to harm, to help one but harm another, to help without harming, to safe one’s life, and to protect from sexual defilement. ("New Advent") As it was explained, the eight situations were put in such a manner that those closer to the first are the most evil while those approaching the eight presuppose less malice. However, an important aspect here is that although Augustine recognized that some cases of lying can be viewed as less serious, they should not be honored or accepted. In any case, lying is a sin. Consequently, while some lies means that a person sins less, they do not mean that those examples of lying are sinless. After making a deep and profound acquaintance with the morality of lying suggested by St. Augustine, I found it difficult to suggest counterexamples to the given ideology, because, as for me, it is completed in its rigidness and integrity, although I realize that as a whole, this absolutism is likely to be not appreciated to the great extent. An obvious criticism of Augustine that is likely to come to one’s mind when making an acquaintance with the doctrine he suggested is the persistent unwillingness to admit that not all lies are morally evil for it is obvious that there could be situations in which a speaker, who intentionally deceives, acts for the sake of bringing good to another person, who is being deceived, or for the sake of some biggest good. In any case, the intentions of such persons are not evil or immoral. Clearly, the given one and other objections to Augustine’s ideology could have place as far as there is the list of ethical theories that would deny the absolutism expressed by the philosopher. For instance, utilitarian approach to the morality of lying would view telling a lie as a necessary condition in case it would maximize the sum of the general good achieved as a result of the deceit. Similarly, virtue ethics may also allow certain violations from the general view that lying is immoral in case there would be a kind of a conflict between the virtue of honesty and another one. At the same time, to my mind, mentioned above positions do not offer a substantial rebuttal of Augustine’s examples and arguments, but rather approach the subject from a quite different perspective while making it possible to defend the views of the prominent thinker. In this regard, it is crucial that Augustine’s unwillingness to recognize a kind of a lie as permissible results from his spirituality, to which he remains devoted till the end. Scripture is regarded as the only criterion to evaluate the reality and Augustine develops his arguments strictly following the beliefs he holds. The theologian is not making a difference between the sins and is rigid in his convictions that any sin in intrinsically evil, regardless of the thought consequences, intentions, or conditions in which it occurs. Thereof, both, a lie told to bring harm or the one conducted to benefit another person deserve to be condemned and should be avoided. Consequently, the absolutism which Augustine sticks to proves his significant and full consistency with the essentials of Christianity, in sake of which the theologian acted. In this context, Augustine showed that his faith is firm and indeed inflexible. This is why I believe that his views can be respected and appreciated. Furthermore, as for me, the expressed views are by all means aimed at ensuring the common good and well-being of the population as far as Augustine is confident in the greater value of the eternal life in comparison to the temporal one. As a result, his arguments remain consistent with his beliefs and due to it, his logic do not allow violations. To sum up, St. Augustine’s work on the morality of lying became an extremely influential text, which for centuries encouraged numerous discussions of the issue. The theologian and philosopher showed a great moral absolutism in his arguing for the complete intolerance of the any kind of lying, which is viewed as intrinsically malice and evil. Augustine persuaded that lying cannot be justified by either consequences or possibly good intentions of a person as far as it is against God’s will and, therefore, brings destruction to a person who resorts to lying. To my mind, the absolutism and rigidness as well as the consistency with Christian beliefs with which Augustine approached the subject constitute the rationale for respecting the given ideology. . Works cited Geisler, Norman. Christian ethics : contemporary issues & options. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010. 66-69. Print. Read More