Does telling untruths in examinations constitute lying?

[Soler]

For instance, would it be lying to write about things that you haven’t actually observed in response to the folllowing?

From what you observe in your own home and elsewhere list the bad and good effects of television on family life in general and discuss whether you thing its use should be regulated by parents and, if so, how this mught be done.

Alternatively, if you were asked, say, in a French oral exam to describe the area in which you live, could you make something untrue up?

Thanks.

 

[Ron_Conte]

Lying is the direct and voluntary deprivation of truth from an assertion.
The moral object is the deprivation of truth from an assertion.
The circumstances and the intention do not change the moral object.

So circumstances, such as the situation in which the lie is told, or an intention, such as to do better on an exam, do not justify a lie.