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A blog post by David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, was published on December 22 on the Philosophy Talk radio show website. Titled “Against Santa,” the blog argues against the tradition of telling children that Santa Claus exists.

Smith debunks the purported benefits of indoctrinating children into the Christmas myth and explains his reasons for concluding that parents should refrain from lying about Santa’s existence. He argues that belief in Santa undermines children’s concept of reality. “We are born into a complex, perplexing world, and we are confronted with the formidable talk of understanding how the world works, a big part of which is learning to distinguish truth from falsehood, fantasy from reality,” he writes. Telling children lies about Santa Claus needlessly throws obstacles in their path.”

Smith also asserts that encouraging belief in Santa erodes trust between children and parents, and he describes the practice as manipulative. “It promises presents in exchange for being ‘good’ instead of (to paraphrase the well-known Christmas song) cultivating the attitude of being good for goodness’ sake.”

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