TOEFL Essay: There are times when lying is acceptable

[Konstantin]

Hello.
There is the hard topic today.

Question:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
There are times when lying is acceptable.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Answer:
There are two main types of philosophers who are distinguished by their attitude to the things like courage, moral and truth. Absolutists think that the meaning of such ideas is permanent in time and space, for instance truth is always good and lying is always bad. Other philosophers – relativists – suppose that the sense of the ideas isn’t constant, it depends on concrete situations. In the question about truth and lying I support the last group and I want to describe some conditions, when the lying is better than truth.

The first situation: there is a doctor and incurable patient, whose life ends in two months. What must the doctor say? He could say the truth. As a result, most probably, the patient would spend his last couple of months in the thoughts about death and it would be the most severe time in his life. He could say lie. He could say that the invalid has a chance. And the person should calm spend this amount of time with his family, he’ll continue to do the things, which he likes.
I think that the last solution is better.

The second one: I guess that the life of a person is the most valuable thing in the world and any facilities are good for the life’s saving. Are the all truthful relationships with terrorists, who threaten and kill people, better then one human life? I don’t think so. In any situation between two evils we must choose the less one.

In conclusion I would say that the truth is a good thing, but sometimes it’s not the best one. There are cases when the price of truth is too expensive, aren’t they?

[Alex Anna]

I also have my answer for this topic. Konstantin, Do you mind if I post it here? I hope that Teacher can correct it for two of us. Thanks

My anwer:
Some peole think that a lie is a bad thing and it can't be accepted in any cases. As far as I am concerned, i think that in some situations that lying is not harm and it doesn't hurt anybody, even makes someone happier, it can be approved.

First of all, sometimes lying is not harm. This means that it doesn't make any serius consequences. A lie as we know is something that you say or write but it is not true in order to deceive someone. It always keeps the truth hidden from someone for your own advantages but a lie's sometimes not that. For instance, you tell a child that Santa Clause will give presents for the good children at Christmas. As we all know,that's a lie, Santa Clause may be you but it's innocuos. Futhermore, it makes children more well-behaved and they listen to their parents much more because the believe in Santa Clause and want to be received presents from him.

The most important reason is a lie in some cases can make someone happier than a truth. Imagine that your girl friend spent a lot of time to make a chocolate cake and give it to you on Valentine's Day. You taste it and tell her that her cake is so delicious, even in fact it's so bitter. It's a funny image but it can also be a true situation that you have in your life time. We didn't only one time say what was not the truth. However, those lies can be accepted and they do better than the truth. As in this imagine, your girlfriend maybe love you more.

Another reason is you don't want anybody worried about you, so you lie them. For example, sometimes you have some troubles at work but you want to try your best and solve them by yourself, you don't wat to rely on anybody's help. Therefore, if someone ask you about your work, you can say them that you're all right or your work's fine. As in this case, the truth may be make someone worried and your problem even become more complex.
On the whole, lying should be avoided in our life. But in some situations, an harmless and opptune lie is better than a truth.
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