NationStates Jolt Archive

i usually say, honesty is the best policy.

but what if the truth will lead to someone killing themself?
i supose whites then comes into play.

you can not be held responsible for someone else's actions.

i usually say, honesty is the best policy.

but what if the truth will lead to someone killing themself?
i supose whites then comes into play.

The way I understand it, morals were developed as a way to hold society together. Telling a truth that kills someone, at least by that conventional definition, isn't necessarily moral. I wouldn't tell them.

Then again, I have a difficult time with the concept of an absolute morality in the first place, although if it boiled right down to a question of ethics, I think I'd agree that honesty is one of the most important traits to have.

*shrugs*

Preserve yourself, then preserve your friends and family. Nothing else matters.

you can not be held responsible for someone else's actions.

Of course not, but if I felt my actions run the rick of taking a life, I might be inclined to not do it.

As for the OP, its kind of an odd predicament because there's no way to know ahead of time whether or not the 'truth' would kill them.

honesty is the best policy but people lie all the time. even apes lie.

if you know that telling the truth will lead to a bad outcome, lie. dont do so lightly or for selfish reasons but its not as big a deal as you seem to think it is. its certainly not worth someone else's life.

Preserve yourself, then preserve your friends and family. Nothing else matters.

but hes a physicist.
physicists=cool.

If a person is willing to kill themselves because of what you tell them, then they have more serious problems than someone lying to them.

but hes a physicist.
physicists=cool.

If you consider him a friend, preserve him then. If not, why worry yourself over someone you don't know?

but hes a physicist.
physicists=cool.

are you saying that this is an actual situation?

stay out of it.

If a person is willing to kill themselves because of what you tell them, then they have more serious problems than someone lying to them.

was going against the truth option on the basis the lie functions me anyway. just brought the question as a general thing, not to do with the specific situation.

lie your ass off there are no absolutes only grey

what I'm saying is knowing the truth is not always the best thing