Deception: Perspectives from Science, Technology and Art

Michael John Gorman and Persi Diaconis

April 1, class notes

 

Two short assignments for Thursday:

 

1) find an unusual example of non-human deception.

2) Trust and the social bond: systematically distrust someone (a friend, storekeeper, telemarketer). E.g. Ask for information, and indicate that you do not believe their answer. If they become angry, explain immediately that this is a class assignment.

 

Why study deception and lying?

 

Spaces and markers

 

Trust-mistrust continuum -- Spaces where deception is expected or punished: poker game, law court, churches, the National Enquirer, The Onion, CNN, warfare, politics, amusement parks,m advertising, scientific journals, social science experiments: what are the markers that tell us Òthis is a space of truthÓ or Òthis is a space of deception?

 

Deception and lying

 

How do we define deception?

Is deception a distinctively human activity?

Recognition of sign as sign required for falsification Ð second-level intentionality (Dennett) Experiments on gorillas who have learned sign language:

Koko the gorilla:

ÒIn her excitement, Koko gave Eugene a small bite when he caught her. ÒWhat did you do? I demanded instantly. Not teeth, was her innocent explanation. ÒKoko, yuou lied!Ó I replied. Bad again Koko bad again, admitted a contrite KokoÓ (from How can I tell a Lie? Apes Language and the Problem of Deception, by H. Lyn Miles)

 

Deception in fireflies: female of Photoris species mimics precopulatory flash pattern of female of another species, Photinus, thereby attracting Photinus males and eating them on arrival.

 

Levels of deception:

 

Bateson (1955) Ð semiotics of deception: ÒIf we speculate about the evolution of communication, it is evident that a very important stage in this evolution occurs when the organism gradually ceases to respond quite ÒautomaticallyÓ to the mood-signs of another and becomes able to recognize the sign as a signal: that is, to recognize that the other individualÕs and its own signals are only signals, which can be trusted, distrusted, falsified, denied, amplified, corrected and so forthÓ.

 

Sachs on deception in childrenÕs games: Òwhat a discoveryÓ child must make when she or he first lies and nobody notices.

 

Duality between signs and what they represent Ð must be recognized if 4th level deception is to occur Ð beliefs about statements (or beliefs about gestures/signs)

ÒAll Cretans are liarsÓ Ð Epimenides paradox.

 

Lying is invariably fourth level deception.

 

Outrageous liars

 

Ferdinand Waldo Demara (1922-1982) ÒI am a superior sort of liar. I donÕt tell any truth at allÓ.

 

DemaraÕs exploits became known in 1952, after a major article appeared in Life magazine. Had been posing as physician and medical officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. His exposure occurred Ònot because of medical incompetence, but because of his widely publicized successes in the surgical treatment of severely wounded KoreansÓ. Operations performed aboard Canadian naval destroyer Cayuga, to which Demara was assigned. Surgery included removal of a bullet lodged within half an inch of the heart and a pneumectomy (removal of lung). Had also impersonated a PhD in psychology, a college dean, a schoolteacher and assistant warden of a Texas prison. Òhe competently completed his responsibilities in each of these rolesÓ.

 

Frequent flier (Munchausen syndrome)

 

 

Frank Abagnale (catch me if you can)

 

Herodotus ÒFather of LiesÓ, according to Oscar Wilde Ð gold-digging ants:

 

There are other Indians further north, around the city of Caspatyrus and in the country of Pactyica, who in their mode of life resemble the Bactrians. They are the most warlike of the Indian tribes, and it is they who go out to fetch the gold Ð for in this region there is a sandy desert. There is found in this desert a kind of ant of great size Ð bigger than a fox, though not as big as a dog. Some specimens, which were caught there, are kept at the palace of the Persian king. These creatures as they burrow underground throw up the sand in heaps, just as our own ants throw up the earth, and they are very like ours in shape. The sand has a rich content of gold, and this it is that the Indians are after when they make their expeditions into the desert.

 

 

Defining lying

 

Nietzsche (The Will to Power): ÒThere is only one world, and that world is false, cruel, contradictory, misleading, senseless [É] We need lies to vanquish this reality, this ÒtruthÓ, we need lies in order to live. [É] That lying is a necessity of life is itself a part of the terrifying and problematic character of existenceÓ.

 

Danger: conflation of two kinds of falsehood Ð intentionally false statements (lies) and merely false statements Ð the ethical and the epistemological.

 

Radical skepticism (all language is mendacious):

 

Cratylus, contemporary of Socrates Ð claimed that nothing could be known Ð refused discussion of any kind. Merely wiggled his finger in response to words to show that he had heard them but that a reply would be pointless.

Pyrrho in 3rd century BC said that nothing could be known, and therefore nothing could be said to be honourable or dishonourable, just or unjust.

 

 

Defences of lying

 

Machiavelli, The Prince, Book 18:

 

 

Bartollomeo Ingannevole:

 

 

Truth-telling in medical ethics:

 

Lawrence Henderson, Physician and patient as a social system, New England Journal of Medicine, 212 (1935):

ÒAbove all remember that it is meaningless to speak of telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a patient. It is meaningless because it is impossible, a sheer impossibility [É] Since telling the truth is impossible, there can be no sharp distinction between what is true and what is false [É] Far older than the precept Òthe truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truthÓ is another that originates within our profession, that has always been the guide of the best physicians, and, if I may venture a prophecy, will always remain so: So far as possible do no harm. You can do harm by the process that is quaintly called telling the truth. You can do harm by lying [É] but try to do as little harm as possibleÓ.

 

Placebos and lying

 

 

Types of lies: Simulation, Dissimulation and Mental Reservation

 

 

Bacon: There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self: the first, Closeness, Reservation, and Secrecy, - when a man leaveth himself without observation, or without hold to be taken, what he is; the second, Dissimulation, in the negatives - when a man lets fall signs and arguments that he is not that he is; and the third, Simulation, in the affirmative, - when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that [which] he is not,

 

Francis Bacon, On Simulation and Dissimulation, Essays

 

Dissimulation: dissembling, concealing, keeping secret.

Simulation: falsely assumed appearance, deceit, hypocrisy.

 

Taqiyah amongst ShiÕite Muslims Ð Òdoctrine of legitimate dissimulationÓ.

ShiÕites hold that heirs of Ali, MuhammadÕs son-in-law and fourth caliph, whose line was dispossessed after his death, are the only legitimate heads and leaders of the faithful. Imams are successors to Ali. 12th Imam, who disappeared in the 9nth century is believed to have concealed himself until the end of time. ShiÕites await the redemptive return of the hidden Imam, who lives a sinless existence as ruler of the world.  Koran: ÒWhether ye conceal what is in your hearts or reveal it, Allah knows itÓ.

 

Biblical deceptions: JacobÕs pretense to Isaac that he was the latterÕs firstborn son, Esau (Genesis 27:19), Egyptian midwivesÕ lying to Pharaoh with GodÕs approval in order to save the Hebrew children (Exodus 1:17-20)/

 

St. Augustine: Old Testament provides no precedents to justify lies.

Òwhen all aspects of the problem of lying have been considered, it is clear that the testimony of Holy Scripture advises that one should never lie at all, since no examples of lies, deserving of imitation, are found in É the deeds of the saintsÓ  (On Lying).

 

 

Macchiavelli: Prince should learn to be a Ògreat simulator and dissimulatorÓ (The Prince)

 

 

 

Equivocation and Mental Reservation

 

Pope Gregory the GreatÕs Moralia (circa 500):ÓWhat harm is there if in the judgement of men our words differ superficially from the rectitude of truth when in the heart they are in accord with it?Ó Òthe ears of men judge our words as they sound outwardly, but the divine judgement hears them as they are uttered from within. Among men the heart is judged by the words; with God the words are judged by the heartÓ.

 

Peter of Lombard (Sentences): Òto lie is to speak against that which one knows in oneÕs mindÓ.

 

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Ð rejected lying but condoned Òprudent evasionÓ.

 

Equivocation: the use of words or expressions with a double meaning different for the speaker than for the hearer. E.g. ÒI never received your letterÓ, taking letter in the sense of a large metal letter.

 

Mental reservation: a false statement completed by an unexpressed addition in the mind which makes it true (e.g. ÒI did not murder her [on June 1, with a piece of frozen fish, for her collection of stuffed armadillos, etc.]

 

Doctrine of mental reservation developed especially by the infamous Dr. Navarrus (Martin de Azpilcueta), one of the most renowned moral theologians, juriconsults, and casuists of his time (Augustinian canon). Navarrus published ÒHandbook for confessors and penitents in 1594, which was enormously popular (eighty one editions published by 1625, and another 92 revisions, abridgments and translations into Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian).

 

NavarrusÕ Commentary on Gregory the GreatÕs Moralia:

 

The ears of men judge our words as they sound outwardly, but the divine judgement hears them as they are uttered from within. Certainly, he is one that knows who explains from the words of another his will and intention; for he ought not to consider the words but rather the will and intention, because the intention should not serve the words, but the words the intention

 

This is the fundamental doctrine of mental reservation.

Navarrus termed mixed speech (internal and external) used in mental reservation ÒamphibologyÓ.

 

Ònoone who for the just sake of safety of mind or body, of piety, utility, or other necessity, or of virtue or any good action, uses amphibology in this manner either lies or commits the sin of lyingÓ.

Taken u by Jesuits, e.g. Francisco Suarez: Òwhether it is licit to swear with an amphibology conceived only in the mindÓ Ð accepted amphibology as long as it was a just and necessary cause (e.g. someone unjustly required to disclose something that was wrong to reveal).

 

Use of mental reservation especially by Jesuits Òunder coverÓ in England, to escape execution.

 

 

Sissela Bok, definition of a lie: Òan intentionally deceptive message in the form of a statementÓ

 

Optimum number of liars Ð any social system can only support a certain number of Òfree-ridersÓ Ð most of us must pay our way. If not, the system breaks down. Imagine living in EpimenidesÕ Crete!

 

Exercise Ð systematically distrust someone (a friend, store clerk, telemarketer). When you ask for a piece of information, systematically express disbelief of their answers Ð see how soon your communication breaks down Ð if at any point they get angry, of course, explain that itÕs a class exercise.

 

Samuel Johnson Ð even the devils of hell do not lie to one another, since the society of hell could not subsist without truth any more than others. (in The Adventurer, 1753)