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Ethics

Is it worse to break a promise in order to avoid telling a lie, or to tell a lie in order to keep a promise?
Accepted:
January 28, 2017

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There's no all-purpose answer

Allen Stairs
February 16, 2017 (changed February 16, 2017) Permalink

There's no all-purpose answer.

Breaking some promises is worse than breaking others. Telling some lies is worse than telling others. But there's no good reason to think that every broken promise is worse than any lie or vice-versa. Telling some lies is worse than breaking some promises; breaking some promises is worse than telling some lies. If you really have to choose, the least bad choice will depend on the details.

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