Word: falsehoods
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Again, it being presupposed that we are not as simple in our conversation as a Memorial lunch, if we tell the truth we are supposed to mean much more than we really say, and so really and knowingly allow a falsehood to be inferred. As a matter of fact, the only way to convince certain people of the truth of a statement, as is well known, is to violently affirm the contrary...
...code of morality, it will be seen, can only influence mental processes indirectly, that is, by determining the mind to such or such researches; but investigation once set afoot, the laws of thought, of evidence, and of logic, and not rules of action, conduct us to truth or falsehood, and thus when rules of morality, as well as all else, are subjected to the scrutiny of reason, they cease even indirectly to influence mental growth and become themselves the product of thought. Thus do we find, superstitions apart, that moral character is the perfect blossom of culture, which differs...
...ourselves into believing that things are better than they really are. He asserts that it is better to hold wrong opinions than to have our opinions corrected; in other words, the sole object of life is ideal truth, but the only safe way for us to life is in falsehood and voluntary blindness...
...that the undergraduate mind is naturally prone to lying. We see no reason for any such conclusion. Is it not rather absurd to assume that the year before he graduates his tendency is wholly in this direction and the year after exactly opposite? We do not believe that, if falsehood be so particularly the characteristic of the student's nature, the simple act of graduation will change him from a Baron Munchausen to a "Truthful James." Neither do we think that the possibility of mistakes belong exclusively to the undergraduate, and that the graduate is entirely exempt from them. Probably...
...affirmed by some that if a student told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, he would receive a greater penalty for his misconduct in question than if he were guilty of a falsehood and were even detected in it, simply because of his boldness in making the confession of his guilt. Instances seem to bear this statement out. The custom of believing a student's testimony only in case it is damaging to himself we hope will be less sanctioned in the future, and that hereafter he will be placed more on an equality with others...