The Right to Lie as a Trap for Freedom

Myasnikov A.G.,

Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Professor, Department for Methodologies of Science, Social Theories and Technologies, Penza State University, Penza, myasnikov-g@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 391404 |

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2017.05.12

Rubric: Laboratory

For citation:

Myasnikov A.G. The Right to Lie as a Trap for Freedom. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No. 5. P. 174-186. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.05.12

Abstract

The article deals with the urgent moral and legal problem of the right for a lie in a new world outlook context namely as a trap for human freedom. The presented author’s interpretation of degrees of freedom as stages of development of independence of the person gives a social and ethical assessment of a practical phenomenon of the right for a lie. The author analyses various negative aspects of application of this phenomenon in modern public life and shows essential restrictions which people face with when they use the right for a lie. This analysis is based on theoretical model of the matrix of traditional consciousness assuming three-level structure of the public relations. It is under construction from the first – the ideological level of the highest (moral and religious) meanings, to the second level – political and legal rules and installations, and then to the third level – social and economic and psychological practices of behavior. The author revealed negative aspects of use of the right for a lie at the second and third levels of a matrix. At the second level subordinated to the principle “the end justifies the means” negative consequences will be: paternalism, moral utopianism and legal nihilism. At the third level – mass falsity, mistrust, unsociability and social apathy will belong to the public risks connected with use of the right for a lie. Thus, the right for a lie keeps human freedom at the level of social and biological survival and interferes with transition of the person and society to higher degrees of freedom independence. For transition to new degrees of freedom it is necessary to establish, first, an origin and borders of use of the right for a lie, namely its need and efficiency only in extreme conditions of survival of the person and society (usually, in military conditions). Upon transition of society to peaceful, safe life “the right for a lie” turns into a dangerous stereotype, into the real trap for practical mind which constrains development of human freedom. Secondly, in modern peace conditions it is necessary to limit by law use of the right for a lie by strict and specific conditions of public safety and a narrow circle of public officials. Under these conditions the possibility of further democratic development of all society, and bigger free self-realization of citizens remains.

Keywords

right for a lie; freedom; degrees of independence; Kant; trap for freedom; stereotype; public risks.

Full Text

References

Dubrovskii D.I. Obman. Filosofsko-psihologicheskii analiz [Deception. Philosophical-Psychological Analysis]. Moscow: Kanon + ROOI Reabilitaciya. 2010. 336 p. (In Russ.)

Ekman P. Psihologiya lji [The Psychology of Lies]. Saint Petersburg: Piter. 2000. 272 p. (In Russ.)

Guseinov A.A. Filosofiya – misl i postupok: stati, dokladi, lekcii, intervyu [Philosophy – a Thought and an Act: Articles, Reports, Lectures, Interview]. Saint Petersburg: SPbGUP. 2012. 848 p. (In Russ.)

Höffe O. Kritik der Freiheit: Das Grundproblem der Moderne. München: C.H. Beck Verlag. 2015. 384 S.

Kant und das Recht der Lüge. Geismann G., Oberer H. (Hg). Würzburg: Könighausen u. Neumann. 1986. 119 S.

Klemme H. Kant und die Paradoxien der Kritischen Philosophie. – Kant-Studien 98. 2007. S. 40-56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/KANT.2007.002

König S. Zur Begründung der der Menschenrechte: Hobbes – Locke – Kant. Freiburg i. Br.; München: K. Alber, cop. 1994. 362 S.

Kruglov A.N. Immaturity and the Objective of a True Reform in Ways of Thinking. Part I. – Kantovsky sbornik. 2014. No. 3 (49). P. 19-39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5922/0207-6918-2014-3-2 (In Russ.)

Mahon J.E. The Truth about Kant on Lies. – The Philosophy of Deception. N.Y.: Oxford University Press. 2009. P. 201-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327939.003.0012

Myasnikov A.G. Modern Transformations of Traditional Consciousness in Russia: Disintegration or Renewal? – Izvestiya visshih uchebnih zavedenii. Povoljskii region. 2013. No. 3. P. 44-56. (In Russ.)

Myasnikov A.G. Pravo na loj: ot Kanta do sovremennosti [The Right to Lie: Kant to the Present]. Moscow: RFO, Penza: Izd-vo Penzenskogo gos. ped. Un-ta. 2006. 272 p. (In Russ.)

Myasnikov A.G. The Problem of the Right to Lie (Was Kant Right?). – Voprosi filosofii. 2007. No. 6. P. 130-141. (In Russ.)

Nersesyanc V.S. Pravo – matematika svobodi. Opit proshlogo i perspektivi [The Right – Mathematics of Freedom. Experience of the Past and Prospect]. Moscow: Yurist. 1996. 160 p. (In Russ.)

Novgorodcev P.I. Ob obschestvennom ideale [About a Public Ideal]. Moscow: Pressa. 1991. 639 p. (In Russ.)

Nravstvennost sovremennogo rossiiskogo obschestva: psihologicheskii analiz [The Morality of Modern Russian Society: a Psychological Analysis]. Pod red. A.L. Juravlev, A.V. Yurevich. Moscow: Institut psihologii RAN. 2012. 413 p. (In Russ.)

O prave lgat. Pod red. R.G. Apresyana [On the Right to Lie. Ed. by R.G. Apresyan]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 2011. 392 p. (In Russ.)

O prave lgat. Prodoljenie diskussii [The Right to Lie. Further Discussion]. – Eticheskaya misl. 2016. Vol. 16. No. 1. P. 77-143. (In Russ.)

Obuhova L.F. Vozrastnaya psihologiya [Developmental Psychology]. Moscow: Pedagogicheskoe ob- schestvo Rossii. 2004. 442 p. (In Russ.)

Plato. Gosudarstvo [The State]. – Platon. Sobranie sochinenii v 4 t. T. 3. [Collected Works in 4 Volumes. Vol. 3]. Moscow: Mysl’. 1994. P. 79-420. (In Russ.)

Plato. Zakoni [Laws]. – Platon. Sobranie sochinenii v 4 t. T. 4. [Collected Works in 4 Volumes. Vol. 4]. Moscow: Mysl’. 1994. P. 71-437. (In Russ.)

Römpp G. Die Sprache der Freiheit. Kants moralphilosophiesche Sprachauffassung. – Kant-Studien 95. Heft 2. 2004. S. 182-203.

Sartre J.-P. L’Être et le néant : Essai d’ontologie phénoménologique. (Russ. ed.: Sartre J.-P. Bitie i nichto: Opit fenomenologicheskoi ontologii. Moscow: Respublika. 2000. 639 p.)

Shtolcenberg Yu. Kant and Right for a Lie]. – Kantovsky sbornik. 2010. No. 2. P. 7-16. (In Russ.)

Solovyov E.Yu. Deficit pravoponimaniya v russkoi moralnoi filosofii. – Proshloe tolkuet nas: (Ocherki po istorii filosofii i kulturi) [Past Interprets Us: (Essays on the History of Philosophy and Culture)]. Moscow: Politizdat. 1991. P. 230-234. (In Russ.)

Solovyov V.S. Prilojenie. Formalnii princip nravstvennosti (Kant) – izlojenie i ocenka s kriticheskimi zamechaniyami ob empiricheskoi etike [Appendix. The Formal Principle of Morality (Kant) – a Statement and an Assessment with Critical Remarks about Empirical Ethics]. – Solovev V.S. Sochineniya v 2-h t. T.1. [Collected Works in 2 Volumes. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Mysl’. 1988. 892 p. (In Russ.)

Tihonova N.E. Dynamics of Value-Normative Systems of Russians and Prospects of the Modernization Project. – Vestnik instituta sotziologii. 2013. No. 3. C. 10-27. (In Russ.) URL: http://www.vestnik.isras.ru/files/File/Vestnik_2011_32/Tihonova.pdf (accessed 31.05.2017).

Timmermann J. Sollen und Können. „Du kannst, denn du sollst“ und „Sollen impliziert Können“ im Vergleich. – Philosophiegeschichte und logische Analyse. Geschichte der Ethik. 2001. No. 6. S. 113-122.

Tugan-Baranovskii M.I. K luchshemu buduschemu. Sbornik socialno-filosofskih proizvedenii [To the Better Future. Collection of Social Philosophical Works]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 1996. 528 p. (In Russ.)

Znakov V.V. Psihologiya ponimaniya pravdi [Psychology Understanding of the Truth]. Saint Petersburg: Aleteiya. 1999. 222 p. (In Russ.)

Zvirevich V.T. Ciceron: filosof i istorik filosofii [Cicero: a Philosopher and a Historian of Philosophy]. Sverdlovsk: Izd-vo Uralskogo Universiteta. 1998. 205 p. (In Russ.)

Content No. 5, 2017