Standing Up for the Truth

• Education in character, fourth quarter - standing up for the truth

Know

• It is expected that a person will be honest and make their life meaningful to the best of their ability to achieve it.
• This is a step towards an orderly and good life with love of truth.
• There are times when people need to hide the truth.
• Hiding the truth is contrary to the essence of being firm in telling the truth.
• It is important to consider whether it is difficult or easy to stand up for the truth and why standing up for it is necessary.
• These are some of the questions that will be given attention in this learning tool.

Review

• Knowledge of issues related to disrespect for human dignity and sexuality from the previous module, will help in taking a stand on the value of respect for human beings and their true purpose.

Analyze

• Truth serves as a person's light in the search for knowledge and purpose in life.
• Measuring one's loyalty requires effort to find out the truth.
• The truth can be found when one stands firm and unreservedly follows, protects, and enriches it.
• Anyone who follows gains the comfort of life with salvation, peace, and faith.
• Truth is the state or condition of being true.
• To achieve this, each person is expected to be expressive in a simple and honest way.
• Telling the truth is important to stand up for the truth.
• Its true value is being one and stable connection between language and knowledge.
• It can be shown in the transfer of knowledge to its verbalization.
• Freedom of expression is when expressing what is in one's mind.
• It suggests that lying or not leaning towards the truth should not happen.

Moral Issues About Disrespect for Truth

• Lying is not choosing, leaning towards, or agreeing with the truth.
• It obstructs the openness and clarity of things or situations that should prevail among people

Three Types of Lying

• Jocose Lie intends to bring pleasure only, it involves a mother’s story about Santa Claus giving gifts to a child.
• Officious Lie intends to defend oneself or create a scandal that will shift the discussion.
• Pernicious Lie destroys the reputation of a person that favors the interest or benefit of others.

Secret

• It involves hiding information with the intent of preventing scandals or negative consequences.
• Claiming proprietary knowledge of events but not disclosing them without authority.

Classified Information

• Natural Secrets are truths whose disclosure would elicit intense criticism and personal harm.
• Promised Secrets include guarantees made by a reputable individual.
• Committed or Entrusted Secrets contain human, governmental, and occupational information.

Revealing Secrets

• When a convincing reason is provided, it can be exposed or concealed.
• A secret can also cause pain or risk when it is not revealed.

Four Methods of Hiding the Truth based on Vitaliano Gorospe (1974)

• Silence involves declining to respond to a query that would pressure someone into speaking the truth.
• Evasion entails misleading someone who is requesting information by not directly responding to their inquiry.
• Equivocation refers to using words that have dual meanings or definitions that lead to different interpretations.
• Mental Reservation involves using words, that do not give a definite answer to the listener regarding if there is truth to the information or not.