On the Right To Tell Lies From Benevolent Motives: Trollope’s Contribution to the Debate in Dr Thorne
In Dr Thorne, Trollope tackles once more the subject of truthfulness and deception through the experience of the eponymous protagonist, a country physician, whose ethical dilemma enables him to explore the question of the right to lie for benevolent motives. Dr Thorne has to decide whether he must t...
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| Izdano u: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cve, |
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| Glavni autor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jezik: | Anglais |
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Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens
2026
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| Online pristup: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sažetak: | In Dr Thorne, Trollope tackles once more the subject of truthfulness and deception through the experience of the eponymous protagonist, a country physician, whose ethical dilemma enables him to explore the question of the right to lie for benevolent motives. Dr Thorne has to decide whether he must tell the truth to a dying patient, Roger Scatcherd. As a physician and a friend, Thorne owes him the truth, and yet, disclosing it is likely to cause unnecessary extra pain to the doomed man. With this case of conflicting duties, Trollope weaves a short piece of casuistry into the fabric of his fiction, as this time he examines the limits of truth-telling and honesty with arguments that are reminiscent of the various stances taken by philosophers like Augustine and Kant, but also Victorian thinkers such as Whewell and Sidgwick. Trollope uses this novel as a platform where ideas and viewpoints can be tossed about and reconsidered, and finally comes up with an original solution, as his hero shows that there exist possible ways to reconcile absolute values and man’s concrete predicament. |
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