From an early age, we have been taught that honesty is one of the most
important things in our lives. "Tell the truth" is one of the phases we
hear over and over again when we are little. But, is truth really so
important? Is knowing the truth or telling the truth really one of the most
important things in our world? Knowing the truth has always been a driving
force in our lives. People have always asked for the truth. From the
beginning of human history people have always asked question of truth.
Questions like, How was the earth created?...is the world flat?...and is
there an afterlife? Many different successful people and civilizations
lived happily believing different truths to these questions and others.
Clearly not all of these answers could possible be correct, but people were
able to be successful and happy while constantly being fed false truths.
So, my question is this, does the truth really matter, is knowing the truth
really so important? I will examine different scenarios to try and
determine an answer to this question.
First, is an example that would affect a lot of people's lives. Say
there was a man who planted a bomb in a city. If the bomb went off hundreds
of people would lose their lives. Police catch the man and try to find out
where he placed the bomb. If the man tells the truth the police will me
able to defuse the bomb and everyone will be saved. If the man lies the
bomb will explode and many people will be hurt as a result. This brings me
to my first conclusion; if a lie can hurt other people then the truth and
honesty are extremely important. I do not believe that there could be any
way to look at this situation and think that lying would be the right thing
Next, I look into the story of Oedipus. For his entire life he had
been told a lie; he had been told the Polybus and Morpe were his parents.
This lie greatly affects Oedipus's life. If he had known the ...