you said: "This allows the strange situation where one can be honest by lying. For example, if ones ethics dictate that one should never cause undue harm or upset to a person, and such a one is asked for an opinion about anothers appearance, then one could lie by responding "s/he looks quite nice" when one actually believes that the others clothes are mismatched and rumpled, and yet one would still be honest because one has adhered to ones own principles in giving the answer."
I don't wish to play word games, I merely think you were wrong. If someone asks for your honest opinion, and you lie to them, you were not honest. Lying may expedient, it may even be ethical in some situations, but it is not honest.
|