See attached
Dialogue Prompt:
You are the lawyer for a wealthy, now recently-deceased billionaire who has left his entire fortune to his dog. Even though he has no other family, you see this as a terrible waste of money and realize that if you alter his will, you could instead use his estate to set up a foundation dedicated to feeding the homeless. You are quite certain no one would find out, since only you knew about your client’s true wishes. What should you do? Is a lawyer who misrepresents his deceased client’s wishes doing something that is equivalent to lying? If so, does the 9th commandment permit lying for a good cause? Defend your answer in light of the 9th commandment while considering the following concepts from Week 3:
justice
,
perfect duties
, and
imperfect duties
.
Write a dialogue post that provides an answer the questions above. Apply the concepts presented in this week’s readings to formulate your initial response and your reply to at least one classmate. Initial posts must have 250-350 words A successful post and response will contain the following elements:
· Meets the word count guidelines and is on time.
· Is a thoughtful answer to the questions presented in the assignment instructions.
· Demonstrates an understanding of course concepts such as
justice
,
perfect and imperfect duties
, and the
natural/moral law
and integrates these concepts into the posts.
· Makes use of the assigned readings and incorporates either quotes or paraphrase to make a point more clear.
· Demonstrates excellent readability and is error-free.
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord. But I say to you, Do not swear at all… Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes
‘ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (Mt. 5:33-34, 37, NRSV).
During this week, you will explore the 9th commandment:
You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor
(Ex. 20:16). The authors of this week’s readings will argue that this commandment condemns all lying. In order to understand how this might be the case, you must understand not only the difference between lying and being mistaken, but also the difference between lying and deception.
When someone lies, that person speaks or communicates her thoughts to someone else, but she communicates in a way
she knows is false. Lying, then, is not the same as being mistaken or spreading inaccurate information unintentionally. When a person says something that isn’t entirely accurate because he hasn’t ‘checked out his facts,’ he might be neglectful, but it doesn’t mean he’s lying. Lies are always
deliberate, intentional acts that involve communicating something false.
Deceptions, likewise, are intentional. However, deceptions differ from lies in that
intending to deceive can include things that are not lies, like wanting to conceal one’s intentions, thoughts, or feelings; having secrets; or doing something like leaving the lights on when you are away on vacation. These kinds of acts have a different moral character than lying, because lies always involve the desire to express directly to some other person a known falsehood. The important thing to remember is that
not all deceptions are lies.
By the end of this week, you will be able to:
· Distinguish between lying and deception.
· Apply the perfect/imperfect duty distinction to situations where you might consider “bearing false witness” to, or falsely representing, your own thoughts.
· Describe what is meant by moral absolutes and explain how ‘you must never lie’ could be called a perfect duty.
