Is it ever morally right to lie? Or to make things more complicated, when is it moral to lie? Noble lies were discussed by plato, and, in his opinion, often times noble lies are for the greater good. Such as, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. However, what about in the case of the murderer as discussed by Immanuel Kant? He makes a point that telling a lie in any situation could have multiple outcomes. For instance, telling the murderer who is after your friend that he is not home and went another direction. In scenario 1, the murderer goes that way and Joe stays safe, and in scenario 2, Joe did in fact go that way without your knowledge and Joe dies. Does the outcome change the nobleness of the lie? I don't think so. I think that it is impossible to know the outcome or consequences of out actions and if we're telling the lie thinking we're saving a life, the lie is noble no matter the outcome.
The example of the murderer may seem far fetched, but morally, it is better to protect a friend from death than give up his location by lying, even if lying itself is morally wrong. Therefore, the "noble lie" must be defined. Does it then become noble to lie to protect someone's feelings? Or in the case of the wedding day example discussed in class, is it noble to lie to protect a marriage if you know that what you did would end it immediately? In these cases I do not believe it is noble to lie. I think that it is a fine line and once we tell ourselves that one lie is noble, it is easy to justify many of them and we can fall into a bad habit of telling these "noble lies".
I agree with you in both scenarios and do think intentions play a major role in decision making. However, there should be a fine line defining when a noble lie is considered immoral and I believe that is the biggest problem because we all have different perspectives of situations. We need to learn to consider all the possible consequences of our actions and live in a way that allows those around us to live in a moral way as well.
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