Harold Winslow

On Cheating

In domains where there are explicit rules and consequences for breaking those rules (e.g. sports), cheating is a strategic decision, not a moral one. The competitor should simply weigh the probability of getting caught and the consequences with the perceived advantage of breaking the rule and choose the option that makes them most likely to win. And if many competitors or fans are outraged when someone gets caught, that is a sign that the policing of that behavior is not sufficiently likely to catch the behavior in question and/or that the punishment is too light. Note that penalties in professional sports are often talked about but do not become scandals, even if there was a bad call - the common penalties are policed reasonably and caught with sufficient frequency that fans and players generally believe that the game is fair enough.

In domains where there are not explicit rules and consequences (e.g. interpersonal relationships), cheating is generally treated with outrage, probably because people don't see the offense coming and aren't sure what the appropriate form of recourse is. [Note that cheating in this context can be much broader than sleeping with someone other than one's partner - it means doing anything outside the standard set of acceptable behavior to attain you preferred end. An example would be implying that you had more responsibility at your last job than you did so that you get a higher starting salary at your new job.] In these instances, cheating really is taking advantage of other people and seems less than honorable - the honorable thing to do would be to make others aware that the particular form of cheating you've considered is possible and to propose a method of detection and punishment which would dissuade you from engaging in the behavior. This codifies the behavior, pre-empts others from doing it in the future, and makes the world a less morally ambiguous place.

Codifying rules and consequences is crucial for everyone's well-being because otherwise competition for money and mates threatens to become total, with people spending all of their time, money, and energy coming up with increasingly costly ways to win. Making rules against the costliest forms of competitive behavior saves everyone from a potential arms race.