Some years ago, my eldest went on one of her many, many book kicks. In this case, it was the young readers subseries from the A Dog's Purpose series. These were the halcyon days when she still liked me to read to her. Not that she doesn't occasionally like me reading aloud to her (mostly from The Elements by Theodore Gray) any more, but these days most of our reading together is done silently, with me looking over her shoulder, the two of us racing to see who can finish the page first.
She usually wins.
Anyway, I have no idea which book it was, but the plot appeared to center around a girl running away from home and staying with a variety of friends. I say, "appeared," because I only ever read the last few chapters to her. I picked up with the protagonist overhearing her latest friends' parents talking about how she wouldn't be able to stay with them any longer. In order to try to get around going home, the girl comes around the corner and tells them that it's okay, because she's staying with her aunt next.
At which point, my beloved daughter was very puzzled.
"I don't remember her having an aunt."
"She doesn't," I replied.
"She just said she does."
"She's lying."
"Lying?"
"Yes. I mean, I haven't read the rest of the book, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure she's lying to them so that they don't call the police or her parents and make her go back home."
At which point, my daughter gave me a look that suggested that I'd taken leave of my senses, because obviously, no one would ever knowingly say something that was wrong. Fortunately, before she went total BSOD from the illogic, she simply said, "Well, I guess we'll just find out," and I went back to reading.
So the girl goes back to the house, the dog beats up the bully or something, and all ends happily ever after. At which point, my child looks at me and says, "Huh, she didn't have an aunt."
/sigh
A couple of years reading Redwall books seems to have introduced her to the concept of deception, but she still doesn't quite get the concept as a practical matter, as evidenced by a semi-recent incident in which she was asked to cover up some misbehavior by a peer.
Yeah...not the wisest pick of coconspirators.
Of course, while it is useful to have a child incapable of deception, and obviously in the vast majority of situations, honesty has a greater level of morality, it does raise an interesting question: what is the nature of virtue or character?
Does it exist in doing right or not doing wrong? Aristotle's Virtue Ethics would say that behavior becomes character, and so a person who cannot understand deceit would be at an advantage in developing honest character. And of course, Kantian ethics would just fall all over itself celebrating the rigid adherence to "Do not lie."
On the other hand, does character exist in the absence of temptation? Most accept that one must be strong to be able to be meek: it's not restraint to hold back from doing something violent if you lack the capacity to do violence. And most also accept that if you do not feel fear in the face of danger, you're not truly being brave. You may just be ignorant of the danger.
It's a puzzling question that I'm not entirely sure can be sorted out. For now, I'm just happy that there's one person in the world who will always give me a straight answer.
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