Essay Sample: the Rationale Behind Lying in Pinocchio

“Pinocchio” is a story whose main character ends signaling to everyone that he lied every time he does, since he suffers physical changes when he does it, and he is also benefited at the end of the tale by promising to always tell the truth from that point onwards. This important integrant of the children’s literature, although having as a main objective teaching kids that “lying is wrong”, opens the doors to the questioning regarding the ethics of casually doing it, since, differently from what happens in the fable, there are no direct consequences to telling “half-truths”, leaving, thereby, the decision of doing so at the mercy of the person.

Among the motives that would bring someone to prefer telling lies to truths, the situations in which it is more beneficial to tell those than these are noteworthy, like for not wanting to hurt other people’s feelings. In this context, the empathy of the person uses lying as an instrument to achieve the noble objective of preserving the happiness of those who surround them. That way, it is then proven that lying is not always wrong, since the justification for such can be acceptable.

However, as the sociologist Sérgio Buarque de Holanda claimed, the Brazilian tends to mix up the private sphere with the public one of his life. This means, in practice, that even though periodically lying is comprehensible, doing it frequently would mean also doing it in situations in which it would be wrong. Thus, lying, even if casually, can be harmful if done in excess, insofar as it would end up resulting in the same being done in inappropriate circumstances.

Therefore, it is notable that lying in order to avoid casual problems with other people is acceptable if done in moderation. Thereby, doing it with good intentions is reasonable, while the same done exaggeratedly is unacceptable.