DB> You're equating "lying" and "breaking an oath".
Enh, I'm treating them as interchangeable, in that they're things that
others might want you not to do, and which you also might usually not want
to do (for your own moral reasons), but which you might feel compelled to
do (presumably for other, stronger moral reasons; or because you're lazy,
which is the thing I was lobbying against :^).
DB> What if what comes of your oath is a demand to tell a lie (even if it
DB> might be a lie of omission)?
Sure; I'd call this an example where "I should keep my oath" is the thing
you'd usually value very highly, and "I shouldn't lie" is the (potential)
"stronger moral reason" why you might break that oath.
DB> What if your oath would compel you to keep quiet and not speak of
DB> completely immoral acts, EVEN IF you were directly asked about them
DB> (as would be the case in an inquiry into FISA proceedings, say)?
And this one, "I should keep my oath" vs "I shouldn't keep silent about
wrongdoing". The answer presumably depends on the scale of the wrongdoing;
I won't break my oath to rat out a co-worker for stealing office supplies,
but that probably wasn't what you had in mind by "completely immoral acts".
There may be people for whom "I should keep my oath" always wins. D&D
might call them Lawful Neutral. :^)
(And there might be people who think "oaths are not important, they're
merely a way to gain an advantage".)
-Josh ([email protected])
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