The Invention of Lying Ethical Film Review: The Need for Lying

The Invention of Lying – Ethical Film Review
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March 4, 2018
Introduction
The Invention of Lying forces its viewers into a deep reflection about themselves and the “acts of lying” (both small and big) that they commit in their lives. On one hand, it questions our understanding of lying by posing questions like; “Is lying always bad?” and “On what circumstances could I lie?” On the other hand, it also shows us that, at times, lying serves as the better good, when everything is hopeless. By taking into account both of these possibilities, it could be seen that the ethics of lying could vary due to a complex variety of factors (e.g. culture, context, etc.), which is what Kohlberg regard as “relativism”. Nonetheless, I believe that regardless of the lie’s intent and delivery, our “agency’s” ability to lie (Munich) is crucial for our own survival.
The Need for Lying
In the 2009 film, The Invention of Lying, the world started out as a place where no one could tell a lie. Nevertheless, it shows a world where everything is almost similar to our world, with the only difference that ‘no one can lie’ (and that the concept of heaven was not conceived). In retrospect to the process of how societies are formed, I strongly think that our society would not look like this and/or would not even exist without lying invented in the early years of human civilization. For one, the movie only states that amongst all the other types of sins (i.e. adultery, greed, envy, etc.) it was only lying that was not invented. In reality, this would prompt conflicts almost everywhere as people tells the ‘inconvenient truth’ to each and every one that they know. By looking at this, we could view lying as an act of “good will” as Kant described it.
One example of...