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Replay: Should you lie to your kids about Santa Claus? When is a white lie ok?

Replay: Should you lie to your kids about Santa Claus? When is a white lie ok?

FromThe Morality of Everyday Things: An Everyday Philosophy Podcast


Replay: Should you lie to your kids about Santa Claus? When is a white lie ok?

FromThe Morality of Everyday Things: An Everyday Philosophy Podcast

ratings:
Length:
57 minutes
Released:
Dec 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Old description:
Is the Santa myth just harmless fun, or should we be honest to our kids about Saint Nick?
In this very festive episode, Jake and Ant discuss the morality of lying to children about Santa Claus. They start with a brief history of the character's origins, including Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and even Odin. Then they go over the origins of the tradition of teaching children of Santa's literal existence and the reasons for doing it.
After that, they discuss the potential benefits of the fiction, as well as the potential harms, before bringing up several philosophical frameworks and what they have to say about lying to children in addition to lying in general. They end the discussion by talking about the lessons that the Santa myth may inadvertently teach children, as well as alternatives to lying to children that don't deprive kids of the fun of the Santa story.
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Released:
Dec 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (90)

Do you enjoy asking the big questions in life? Or the medium-sized questions? And then debating them with your friends? We can't promise to help you win every argument, but in this podcast, join us as we debate all kinds of everyday issues. With clear definitions, and some help from philosophers throughout history, we break down the key arguments of questions like "Should billionaires exist?", "Is God a good thing?" and many more. We're Jake and Ant, two friends who studied a mix of philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. We started this podcast during Covid-19, and what began as a lockdown hobby to curb our own boredom has somehow ended up becoming one of the Top 2% of podcasts worldwide. It’s been flatteringly described as “Like listening to your mates argue in the pub, except they’re not rude to each other and they sound like they know what they’re talking about”. Well, when we do our research anyway. Support the show: For as little as $1.50 per month, you can support the show using our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/moedt Subscribe to our email updates at https://moedt.substack.com And lastly, thanks to everyone who has left us a good review or contacted us to say they like the show. You guys are the reason we do this :)