People, on average, lie two or three times every 10 minutes of conversation (Smith). In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Christoher Boone has difficulty with lies. From sarcastic comments to a complex web of lies, Christopher struggles to make sense of them. This is because his Asperger syndrome hinders his ability to recognize lies. It seems that throughout the novel everyone has a natural inclination to lie. One explanation for this is that lying is an intricate aspect of human nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Many great philosophers have debated whether lying is morally right. They answer this question by asking whether there is still a need for lies now that the human race has advanced. Plato argued that the rulers of a society must tell lies to maintain harmony. He also thought that context is important when considering whether a lie is virtuous or not. In this view, Plato was willing to let the masses live in a false reality so that there would not be a revolt. On the contrary, St. Augustine thought that no lie could be tolerated. This view is shared by Emmanuel Kant who believed that a lie is an attack on morality because it treats people as means rather than human beings. Kant's view opposes the human impulse to outdo the competition by any means necessary. Hugo Grotius had an interesting approach to lying. He thought that something could only be considered a lie if it was harmful (Smith). According to Grotius' definition, a white lie would not actually be a lie. Where this idea gets complicated is when a lie harms a person for the greater good of society. Lying is not a question of right and wrong. There will always be a debate about what is a lie and whether it is acceptable. Humans have become master manipulators because lying is a necessity for survival. In fact, babies start lying as early as six months old by pretending to cry or laugh (Smith). One advantage humans have over the animal kingdom is our ability to communicate through language. Many animals lie without language. For example, some birds trick meerkats into thinking there are predators nearby to get them to abandon their food (Thorpe). However, with the development of language, lying has become immensely more complicated for humans. One of the reasons why humans developed the ability to lie is that we are social creatures and therefore need to establish relationships with each other. One way to form these relationships is to lie to please others (Thorpe). We see this with white lies where we compliment others even though it's not always the truth. Another lie that could strengthen relationships is lying for a friend. This may involve the risk of getting into trouble, but the potential profit is more important to us than the risk of trouble. These lies are mutually beneficial but there are, of course, lies that can benefit the liar while hurting the victim (Thorpe). An example from our society is political figures who lie to gain support. They may promise certain things that cannot be fulfilled and which create a victim among the voters. Likewise, in the dawn of human existence, tribal leaders had to lie to the masses to gain support. Another example of a lie that hurts victims is when a businessman steals an idea from his partner and claims it as his own. A parallel to this from the tribal ages of humans is stealing food from a fellow tribesman. These types of lies have.