Lying, Cheating, Stealing

Simone de Beauvoir

As an existentialist, I say that it is only ethical if it represents who you are. If you are a liar, cheater, and a thief by nature, then it is ethical to you. You must act as your own belief. I also believe that you must act as you are to be considered ethical. If you are, by nature, a thief or a cheater, and you don´t act the way you are, you are not being ethical to yourself. I, myself, am not any of those, although I have lied, cheated, and stole, I must say that I wasn´t ethical. I was the sidekick of Jean-Paul Sartre, an existentialist, and we shared some thoughts about how people should behave.

As you must know, an existentialist believes that a person is only ethical if he or she acts the way they are by nature. If you are a thief, then you must steal to be ethical, if you are a cheater then you must cheat. Lying, stealing, and cheating are only ethical if it is in your nature, not nurture. Many people get confused by these two words, nurture means what you are taught once you were born and nature is who you are since you were born. JP and I think that you must act by nature, not by nurture and these actions are ethical. I also believe that my thoughts and actions have been ethical due to that I have acted by nature, and this includes who I really am.

Lying, for some people, is a good way to stay out of trouble but, is this ethical?
Lying to safe yourself is ethical if and only if you lie because you are a liar by nature. Stealing and cheating also apply to this. All philosophies and philosophers have different thoughts about this topic, but as an existentialist I believe that you are who you are and you must act as who you are to be considered ethical.