Is it morally wrong to Fake your own Death?

[This Charming Manc]

Well you would be building my hopes up unfairly.

Faking your own death is as old as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Its been used as a military tactic, a political solution, a way to remarry
or elope, a method to dissuade investigators, a way to cover up murder,
and for a thousand other reasons.

It has been largely reserved as a practice for those wealthy enough or powerful enough
to pull it off successfully. It is often unsuccessful as well as successful for at least a time,
but remains an attractive option under many situations.

Lists of successful and unsuccessful perpetrators of their own death are available.

Some famous cases are:

JACQUOTTE DELAHAYE // C. 1656

LORD TIMOTHY DEXTER / 1800
ALEXANDER I OF RUSSIA // 1825

WILLIAM GOODWIN GEDDES // 1877

BELLE GUNNESS // 1908

MARION FRANKLIN ROGERS // 1929

CONNIE FRANKLIN 1929

ALFRED ROUSE // 1930

Ken Kesey 1965

JOHN STONEHOUSE // 1974

Lord Duncan 1974

Gandaruban Subramaniam 1987

Bennie Wint 1989

Philip Sessarago 1993

Arthur Bennett 1994

Friedrich Gulda 1999

Samuel Israel III 2000

Alexander “Ace” Baker 2001

John Darwin 2002

Jenaro Jimenez Hernandez 2008



In many of the known cases, the perpetrators were successful for many years,
and some have not been proven or caught to this day in spite of evidence of their fakery.

Many were extremely wealthy, but others were working class or did it to make money,
for instance on insurance.

We must always logically assume that there are more actual cases than those which have been
exposed.

 

[Arthur Brain]

Opinion noted. I'll return to this later.

Oh good.

Does it matter? It could be anyone. Let us suppose that my neighbor is a constant thorn in my side and constantly gets on my nerves, perhaps even intentionally, on occasion. If I can lie to him and make some minor inconvenience for him, in the process greatly contributing to my own amusement, why shouldn't I?

Why shouldn't I tell him, e.g., that there is a half-off sale on steaks at the local grocery store in full knowledge that, if he believed me, he would rush straightaway to said grocery store in order to buy some? I could even lie again to cover my tracks: "Oh dear me, I was misinformed. It was a different store in a different town. I'm terribly sorry."

Meanwhile, I could be laughing my head off in utter delight.

Somehow I reckon you'd be an annoying neighbour to have, especially if I had to listen to you prattle on and such, but anyway, no, there isn't any moral justification for it if you're doing so out of malice, which is all this scenario effectively amounts to.

Why not? If criminals can be imprisoned, subjected to physical torments and even killed, why can't we lie to them?

Under Western law it's not okay to subject incarcerated criminals to physical torments so that's a fail even if it happens to go on. They're paying a penalty simply by being imprisoned and adding some pointless lying (which really doesn't hold up as most prisoners would know if they had a chance at parole I would imagine) is really tantamount to justifying some sort of glee on your part...

You think it's OK to commit perjury in that case?

As I've already said it would be rather bizarre for that to be the only option but if it was a case of perjury to protect someone I knew to be innocent then what exactly would be morally wrong about it?

Ultimately, AB, this is what it comes down to. You have three, and precisely three, choices:

1. Lying is always wrong.
2. Lying is never wrong.
3. Lying is sometimes wrong and sometimes not wrong.

You've committed yourself to 3. I'll ask you: "what makes it wrong in one case, but not wrong in another?"

Let us return to the intruders case. Let it be granted that I can lie to the intruders about the whereabouts of the children. Can I lie to them about unrelated things which would neither help nor hinder my safety and the safety of my relatives? For example, can I lie to them about the meat being on sale for half off at the local grocery store? Can I lie to them about the contents of a news story I read earlier in the day?

Granted that I can lie to them about such things, can I lie to other people about the same things? A random passerby has no right to know what is in my pocket. Can I lie to them about this? "I have 2 pens in my pocket" (in fact, there are no pens in my pocket).

What makes it OK to lie in one case, but not the other?

You'll be forced into the following conclusion, I think, if I press you hard enough:

Either:

1. Lying is always wrong.
2. Lying is almost never wrong.
3. Lying is never wrong.

Look Trad, my position is pretty much clear, your bizarre 'steak' & 'pen' scenarios notwithstanding. I'm not forced into any of your conclusions but you have fun thinking that if you will...

:freak: