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Second Thoughts About Bluffing

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  • Carson, Thomas

Abstract

It is common for people to misstate their bargaining positions during business negotiations. This paper will focus on cases of the following sort: I am selling a house and tell a prospective buyer that $90,000 is absolutely the lowest price that I will accept, when I know that I would be willing to accept as little as $80, 000 for the house. This is a lie according to standard definitions of lying—it is a deliberate false statement which is intended to deceive others. I will defend the following two theses:a. Appearances to the contrary, this kind of bluffing typically does not constitute lying. (I will argue that standard dictionary definitions of lying are untenable and defend an alternative definition hinted at, but never clearly formulated by, W. D. Ross. On my definition, deliberate false statements about one’s negotiating position would rarely constitute lies in this society.)b. It is usually permissible to misstate one’s bargaining position when one has good reason to think that one’s negotiating partner is doing the same and it is usually impermissible to misstate one’s negotiating bargaining if one does not have good reason to think that the other party is misstating her position.

Suggested Citation

  • Carson, Thomas, 1993. "Second Thoughts About Bluffing," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 317-342, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:3:y:1993:i:04:p:317-342_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Filipe Sobral & Gazi Islam, 2013. "Ethically Questionable Negotiating: The Interactive Effects of Trust, Competitiveness, and Situation Favorability on Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 281-296, October.
    2. Fowler David S. & Musgrave Jon, 2020. "Revisiting Carr’s Business Bluff: Opinions on the Ethics of Playing the Game," Journal for Markets and Ethics, Sciendo, vol. 8(2), pages 1-3, December.
    3. Matthew Brophy, 2015. "Spirituality Incorporated: Including Convergent Spiritual Values in Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 779-794, December.
    4. Marian Eabrasu, 2020. "Cheating in Business: A Metaethical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 519-532, March.
    5. Benedict Sheehy, 2015. "Defining CSR: Problems and Solutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 625-648, October.
    6. Rebecca Guidice & G. Alder & Steven Phelan, 2009. "Competitive Bluffing: An Examination of a Common Practice and its Relationship with Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 535-553, July.
    7. Kasim Khorasanee, 2024. "Spoof, Bluff, Go For It: A Defence of Spoofing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 201-215, January.
    8. Denise Fleck & Roger J. Volkema & Sergio Pereira, 2016. "Dancing on the Slippery Slope: The Effects of Appropriate Versus Inappropriate Competitive Tactics on Negotiation Process and Outcome," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 873-899, September.

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