The Ethics of Evasion

Evasion. Otherwise put, the telling of half-truths. Many may argue that evasion itself is a form of lying. This argument seems based on the predication that a lie can consist of not telling the entire truth. Certainly, lying consists of some form of deceit. But it omission of certain truths enough to ground to define evasion as a lie?

Evasion is commonly practiced by a multitude of people. The most common cases are white lies based on truth that shelter an individual from receiving the brunt of a negative emotion. This seems innocent enough without getting into the discussion of the morality of a lie. Another example of evasion is when people do not tell others everything about themselves but omit certain details for privacy's sake or some other reason. Most people probably do this every day without even realizing it. Others are aware of the deception and this does indeed bring their morality into question which is a major issue when discussing lies and morality. Nevertheless, evasion and some form of deceit seem to go hand-in-hand.

On the other side of the coin, lies are always deliberate and involve blatant intent to deceive. Regardless of the morality for the reason one lies, anyone who did lie overtly would at least know so after the fact. Lying obviously also involves some sort of deception. The factors that seperate it from evasion are the extent of the deception and the intent in purpose. Therefore, in order to perpetuate a lie, one must intend the lie and blatantly deceive the other person. In this sense, there is a clear difference between lying and evasion.

Evasion and lying are very different from one another. Both involve similar components but to varying degrees. The intent behind the deception is the main means of differentiating between a lie and evasion. Although evasion and lying are not the same, one should use caution in employing evasion. Afterall, evasion is only one step away from a lie.