Santa Clause Showdown

We periodically have Praxis philosophy nights. This week we talked about whether it’s ethical to tell children Santa Claus exists.

I won’t make an argument in this post, but will do my best to outline the arguments.

For:

You have the intention of using this lie as creating joy and pleasure in their lives. As long as you have the intention of correcting the information, it’s okay. The children who are lied to usually end up being perfectly okay with it and they even want to tell their children the same lie. Therefore, if no harm is done to the child and if they gain happiness from the lie, it’s ethical.

Against:

Deceiving a child’s perception of reality can have a long-term impact on their ability to come to accurate conclusions about the world. It’s insulting to a child’s ability to use reason. A child sees a parent as a source of accurate information and when a parent doesn’t deliver that information, the trust is broken, and that break in trust has long-term negative impacts.