I have posted the following at Horgan’s blog:
Should global-warming activists lie to defend their cause? Absolutely not. There are no shades of grey here – either you are committed to honesty and integrity, or you are not. You say that “my students and I agreed that in certain situations lying is excusable,” but do not give any convincing scenarios in which there might be grounds to lie.
You note that “Kant said that when judging the morality of an act, we must weigh the intentions of the actor. Was he acting selfishly, to benefit himself, or selflessly, to help others?” The volition of the actor is of course crucial; but it must also be accompanied by knowledge, wisdom and insight. That is, the actor should have strong grounds for believing that his action will benefit others. However, we are talking here about policy responses to possible dangers from any anthropogenic global warming. Even if you accept that such warming is occurring, the policy response is not something within the realm of climate scientists. If actions proposed have severe economic consequences worldwide, if it may be that the best way to deal with any warming is to maintain economic and technological growth and therefore increase our capacity to deal with and adapt to any warming, then this is a matter for broad debate from politicians, voters and experts in many fields other than climate science. A climate scientist can not be judge and jury: the fact that Gleick may have been “defending a cause that he passionately views as righteous” does not make his deceit, lying and data theft a moral action.
You say that “Gleick himself sounded contrite.” Many believe that he sounded self-serving, and continued to deny concocting the critical strategy document which appears to many to be his own work. And inserting a reference to himself into the document showed he was acting with delusions of grandeur rather than selflessly. Perhaps he saw himself as a hero, the action was to feed his ego rather than serve humanity to the best of his ability. The only solid point he made was that “a rational public debate is desperately needed” – yet he is trying to undermine one side of the debate, a side which has far fewer resources than the pro-warming side. Gleick said that “My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts — often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated — to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved.” Almost all the resources, all of the attempts to conceal data and prevent debate – remember the spurious mantra that “the science is settled?” – are on the CAGW side.
In my view, the highest goal for each individual is spiritual development. Such development depends on seeking truth at the deepest level, understanding the nature of reality so as to be able to act in a way which is best for oneself and for others. This requires an absolute commitment to truth and honesty. Anything else is harmful.