II. Vocabulary in context text: is lying always wrong?

What is truth? What makes a lie? Philosophers, teachers, and religious leaders from all cultures and all periods of history have offered many answers to these questions. Among Euro-North-American writers, there is general agreement on two points. The first is that what we call "a lie" must have been told intentionally—that is, if someone tells an untruth but they believe it to be true, we don't consider them a liar. The second point is that practically everyone lies, and lies frequently. There are many ways to categorize lies, but here is a fairly simple one.

Little white lies: This is our name for lies that we consider harmless and socially acceptable. They are usually told to protect the liar or the feelings of the listener. Most of them would be considered social lies, and they include apologies and excuses: "I tried to call you, but your line was busy." "You're kidding! You don't look like you've gained a pound." Some people, however, would consider it acceptable to lie to save themselves from responsibility in a business transaction: "After I got it home, I noticed that it was broken, so I'm returning it and would like my money back."

Dirty lies: these are told with the intent to harm the listener or third party and to benefit the liar. Into this category fall the lies of some dishonest salespersons, repairmen, husbands and wives who are having an affair with someone else teenagers who lie to get out of the house in order to do things that their parents would die if they knew about; drug addicts beg family members for money to support their habit. Dirty lies may be told to improve one person's reputation by destroying another's, to hurt a colleague's chances of promotion so that the liar will be advanced.

Lies of omission: Some people believe that lying covers not only what you say, but also what you choose not to say. If you're trying to sell a car that burns a lot of oil, but the buyers don't ask about that particular feature, is it a lie not to tell them? If omission can be lying, history books are great liars. Until recently, most U.S. history textbooks painted Christopher Columbus purely as a hero, the man who "discovered America," and had nothing to say about his darker side. Many people considered this a lie.

False promises: This category is made up of promises that the promiser knows are false, that he has no intention of keeping even as the words leave his lips. While some are fairly harmless and social, others are taken more seriously and can hurt the listener: "I'll never do it again, I promise." Advertisers and politicians suffer from terrible stereotypes because of the false promises of some of their number: "Lose 50 pounds in two weeks." "Read my lips: No new taxes." Probably everyone would agree that if we make a promise but have no intention of keeping it, we lie. But what if we really do plan to keep it, and then something happens to prevent it?

Pathological lies: Pathological liars are persons who lie constantly and for no apparent reason. They will lie about anything. They seem to be unable to control the impulse to lie. Studies of such people find that many of them were badly treated as children, many come from families in which one member was an alcoholic or was mentally ill, many grew up in families in which the truth was simply never valued or practiced. They seem to have an unusually strong need to be liked and admired by others.

Lies to oneself: This is perhaps the saddest and most pathetic kind of lying These are the lies that prevent us from making needed changes in ourselves: "I know I drank/spent/ate too much yesterday, but I can control it any time I really want to." But there is a fine line between normal dreams and ambitions on the one hand, and deceiving ourselves on the other, and we have to be careful where we draw it. It's common for young people to dream of rising to the top of their company, of winning a Nobel Prize, of becoming famous or rich; but is that self-deception, or simply human nature?