Most people value honesty. They want to tell the truth. They also value kindness. Sometimes, though, honesty and kindness collide. That happens when telling the truth would be hurtful, but being kind involves telling a lie. How do people negotiate this clash of noble intentions?
Much as I love Dexter, the charming serial killer on the TV show with the same name, I was skeptical when I was asked to read an advance copy of a book of essays by philosophers. Sure, I had edited my own book of essays about Dexter, but that was different – the contributors were psychologists.
[Bella’s introduction: I haven’t been very good at keeping up with the “Liars and Their Lies” section of this blog. I’d like to think, though, that I’m back with a bang with this guest post by Charles F. Bond, Jr., who for decades has been one of the leading researchers in the psychology of deceiving and detecting deceit. I really enjoyed this contribution and I hope you will, too.]
So far, I haven’t posted about deception on this blog nearly as often as I would like to, but I have been working on some things and collecting topics to discuss when I can get to them. Even though my real passion – personal and intellectual – is single life, I still find aspects of deception intriguing and I continue to get inquiries from others all the time.
