How do you feel about lies of omission? What about other forms of deception (make-up, dress, aires of confidence when really nervous etc.) I’m really sympathetic to you view but I think it profoundly underestimates the amount of deception we routinely engage in for the purposes of avoiding conflict, smoothing things over, maintaining privacy, keeping promises, avoiding delay, and generally not being a jerk. I’m really not sure our society could function in a state of obligatory information symmetry. Deception is so enmeshed in our institutions and conventions that I don’t know if you could eliminate it without destabilizing everything else.
Obviously the solution isn’t going to be “lie away!” but the practice of ‘radical honesty’ is a genuinely revolutionary act and it should be taken with appropriate seriousness and caution.
You’re right that most interpersonal relationships, even (and especially) casual ones, absolutely require deception and silence on certain matters.
But most humans are not rational and don’t desire to be rational. That only harms them, but it can’t be helped. In such situations, probably the best way to salvage things and limit the total amount of harm is to play along and deceive them.
Would it be even better to refuse to play that game, to insist on interacting only upon a rational basis, or even to refuse interaction with people dedicated to being irrational? I don’t know. I can’t even guess. Maybe. But the cost would be terrible.
How do you feel about lies of omission? What about other forms of deception (make-up, dress, aires of confidence when really nervous etc.) I’m really sympathetic to you view but I think it profoundly underestimates the amount of deception we routinely engage in for the purposes of avoiding conflict, smoothing things over, maintaining privacy, keeping promises, avoiding delay, and generally not being a jerk. I’m really not sure our society could function in a state of obligatory information symmetry. Deception is so enmeshed in our institutions and conventions that I don’t know if you could eliminate it without destabilizing everything else.
Obviously the solution isn’t going to be “lie away!” but the practice of ‘radical honesty’ is a genuinely revolutionary act and it should be taken with appropriate seriousness and caution.
You’re right that most interpersonal relationships, even (and especially) casual ones, absolutely require deception and silence on certain matters.
But most humans are not rational and don’t desire to be rational. That only harms them, but it can’t be helped. In such situations, probably the best way to salvage things and limit the total amount of harm is to play along and deceive them.
Would it be even better to refuse to play that game, to insist on interacting only upon a rational basis, or even to refuse interaction with people dedicated to being irrational? I don’t know. I can’t even guess. Maybe. But the cost would be terrible.