Your best friend Carol owns a pastry shop. One day you learn that her store manager, Dave, is embezzling large sums of money from the business. What do you do?
Silly question, obvious answer: tell Carol at once! Indeed, failing to do so would be a betrayal—later, when Carol has to close the shop and file for bankruptcy, her beloved business ruined, and she learns that you knew of Dave’s treachery and said nothing—how can you face her? The friendship is over. It’s quite clear: if you know that the guy is stealing, you will tell Carol, period.
Now suppose that Dave, the pastry shop manager, is actually also a friend of yours, and your knowledge of his crime is not accidental but comes because he confides in you, having first sworn you to secrecy. Foolishly, you agreed—a poor decision in retrospect, but such is life.
And now: (a) you have information (Dave is stealing from Carol); (b) ordinarily, having such information dictates your behavior in a clear way (you must take it at once to Carol); (c) yet you have sworn to keep said information secret.
Thus the question: are you obligated to behave as if you know this information (i.e., to inform Carol of Dave’s treachery)? Or, is it morally permissible for you to behave as if you know nothing (and thus to do nothing—and not only that, but to lie if Carol asks “do you know if Dave is stealing from the shop?”, etc.)?
Perhaps. Consider this scenario:
Your best friend Carol owns a pastry shop. One day you learn that her store manager, Dave, is embezzling large sums of money from the business. What do you do?
Silly question, obvious answer: tell Carol at once! Indeed, failing to do so would be a betrayal—later, when Carol has to close the shop and file for bankruptcy, her beloved business ruined, and she learns that you knew of Dave’s treachery and said nothing—how can you face her? The friendship is over. It’s quite clear: if you know that the guy is stealing, you will tell Carol, period.
Now suppose that Dave, the pastry shop manager, is actually also a friend of yours, and your knowledge of his crime is not accidental but comes because he confides in you, having first sworn you to secrecy. Foolishly, you agreed—a poor decision in retrospect, but such is life.
And now: (a) you have information (Dave is stealing from Carol); (b) ordinarily, having such information dictates your behavior in a clear way (you must take it at once to Carol); (c) yet you have sworn to keep said information secret.
Thus the question: are you obligated to behave as if you know this information (i.e., to inform Carol of Dave’s treachery)? Or, is it morally permissible for you to behave as if you know nothing (and thus to do nothing—and not only that, but to lie if Carol asks “do you know if Dave is stealing from the shop?”, etc.)?