Moralist: A statement is wholly truthful only if it is true and made without intended deception. A statement is a lie if it is intended to deceive or if its speaker, upon learning that the statement was misinterpreted, refrains from clarifying it.
Question: Which one of the following judgments most closely conforms to the principles stated by the moralist?
Options:
A. Ted’s statement to the investigator that he had been abducted by extraterrestrial beings was wholly truthful even though no one has ever been abducted by extraterrestrial beings. After all, Ted was not trying to deceive the investigator.
B. Tony was not lying when he told his granddaughter that he did not wear dentures, for even though Tony meant to deceive his granddaughter, she made it clear to Tony that she did not believe him.
C. Siobhan did not tell a lie when she told her supervisor that she was ill and hence would not be able to come to work for an important presentation. However, even though her statement was true, it was not wholly truthful.
D. Walter’s claim to a potential employer that he had done volunteer work was a lie. Even though Walter had worked without pay in his father’s factory, he used the phrase 'volunteer work' in an attempt to deceive the interviewer into thinking he had worked for a socially beneficial cause.
E. The tour guide intended to deceive the tourists when he told them that the cabin they were looking at was centuries old. Still, his statement about the cabin’s age was not a lie, for if he thought that this statement had been misinterpreted, he would have tried to clarify it.
Answer: D