Should we let children believe in

Santa Claus?
Philosophy and Ethics

BRENT SILBY
Unlimited (UPT)
A well perpetrated hoax

Remember what its like to believe?

You lie in bed on Christmas eve waiting for Santa to come

You might even sneak a look out the window, hoping to catch
a glimpse of this elusive character
A well perpetrated hoax

Where did your belief come from? How did you come to think that
Santa Claus was real?

Parents / Society

The myth is so cleverly designed. Built into the myth is the idea
that Santa Claus can’t be seen. He comes only when you sleep.
A well perpetrated hoax

Santa Claus is given omniscient properties – he knows everything

about you.

He keeps a check list of good and bad deeds and rewards only
those who have been good.

Sounds familiar…

Almost like a certain religion that we’ve come to know.

All knowing, all loving Santa watching over us and passing

judgment on 25 December
Is Santa just God in disguise?
A well perpetrated hoax

Just like all religions, this is effective.

It helps keep people under control. Santa, provides a moral

conscience for people who may not have developed their own.
A well perpetrated hoax

Mythology around eternal rewards and punishments are well

entrenched and provide powerful deterrent to undesired behavior

Belief systems are instilled at a young age and feel very real.

If you think your memories of Santa are vivid, consider the strength
of emotion some people experience when they contemplate eternal
damnation in Hell.

e.g. woman in Richard Dawkins documentary

A well perpetrated hoax

If it doesn’t exist, then that fear and emotion is based on a lie.

Is that morally right? Is it morally okay to induce such strong

emotions based on a lie?
He doesn’t exist

But Santa is different. He’s a nice guy! Not like hell.

Its all child friendly

But is there really a difference? Its all based on telling lies.

He doesn’t exist

Santa Claus is fictional. But he is represented as being real.

Children are convinced that Santa exists, because that’s what

their parents tell them.

Very young children generally do not question knowledge passed

on from parents, but when they do, their parents create elaborate
lies to ensure that Santa Claus remains real.
 Is this ethical?

Should parents lie to children?

Perhaps there is no issue. Maybe Santa is the same as any other
fictional character, e.g. Spiderman, Superman, Sherlock Holmes

But there is a difference between Santa and other types of fiction

When we watch a movie or read a book, we understand that its

fiction. We understand that when we talk about these characters
we are talking about non-existent entities—even if we seem to
talk as if they are real.
Unlike other fiction, parents do not tell children that Santa is
fictional. They tell children that he is real!
Maybe its okay to implant a false belief in children if it makes
them happy.

If this is true, then what about telling other lies to keep children
happy?

* How about tooth fairy?

* What about easter bunny?
* How about the difference between males and females?
* Perhaps its okay to tell lies about the difference between races?

If it keeps them happy, then surely we can tell lies about

slave labor or climate change.
Immanuel Kant formulated an interesting theory of ethics.

Kant said that an action is considered morally right if it satisfies

2 criteria
An action must be:
Universalizable
It must be logically consistent to imagine the action to always occur in all
situations. Telling lies is not universalizable because if all statements were lies,
then telling the truth would mean saying something that is untrue.

This is a logical contradiction

and
Treat people as an end in themselves, never as a means to an end

Don’t use other people to further your own agenda. Put other people’s interests
first.
Let’s apply Kantian ethics to the question of Santa Claus

Is it morally permissible to convince children that Santa exists?

Fails first criterion: involves telling lies

Fails second criterion: using child’s innocence to further own

agenda
When we convince children that Santa exists we are taking
advantage of their innocence. We do this to propagate a lie that
we want them to believe.

Children have no skeptical ability. They cannot question the

knowledge passed down from their parents.

Sure, it might make children happy, but it is still a lie. It is only a

few steps away from implanting other false beliefs in children.

Throughout history children have had racist, sexist, religious beliefs

implanted into their minds. The ease of belief in Santa should
sound warning bells for enlightened people.
Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY

Produced at UPT
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.unlimited.school.nz