Friday, December 2, 2011

An Ethicist on Deception

Sissela Bok was born in Sweden, December 2, 1934. Both her mother, Alva Myrdal, and her father, Gunnar Myrdal, were Nobel Prize winners in two different disciplines and a decade apart. Her brother, Jon Myrdal, is a well-known writer and journalist. Sissela Bok is married to Derek Bok who was a long-time president of Harvard University. She herself was professor of philosophy at Brandeis. Her daughter, Hilary Bok is a philosopher as well.
(Sissela Bok image: Harvardsquarelibrary)
I include this snippet about Ms. Bok as a reminder both to myself and to you that while we share space on the same planet we are definitely from different worlds!

A few lines from Ms. Bok:
Liars share with those they deceive the desire not to be deceived.

We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect.

While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive.

Happy Birthday, Ms. Bok. 1934 was a very good year!

4 comments:

Secondary Roads said...

Okay . . . but I'm still waiting to hear about our two intrepid rocket scientists. Yes, I know how to keep a dummy in suspense. ;)

Anonymous said...

I see you edited the post - I didn't want to say anything...I had add to and edit my post today too. Morning is not always my friend.

Vee said...

At least for our family it was a good year!

vanilla said...

Chuck, it's okay. Patience. I hope you will be rewarded. Authorship is such a tedious thing, don't you think? ;-)

Grace, I don't mind being called on glaring errors. I do recheck my post first thing in the morning, hence catch some of the goofs after publication.

Vee, how kind of you to say so.