Others include 'living a lie' those cases where someone behaves in a way that misleads the rest of us as to their true nature. Others stretch the definition to include doing nothing in response to a question, knowing that this will deceive the questioner. Sisella Bok, author of a major philosophical book on the subject of lying, defines a lie as: Some philosophers believe that lying requires a statement of some sort they say that the liar must actually speak or write or gesture.

the case where nobody is deceived by me because they know that I always tell lies.

When I later eat that piece of pie I discover that there really is a worm in it

I want the last helping of pie for myself, so I lie to you that there is a worm in it.

the case where someone inadvertently gives true information while believing that they're telling a lie.

This definition covers ordinary cases of lying and these two odd cases as well:

It says nothing about whether the information given is true or false. This definition says that what makes a lie a lie is that the liar intends to deceive (or at least to mislead) the person they are lying to.

A lies does not have to be told with a bad (malicious) intention - white lies are an example of lies told with a good intention.

A lie does not have to give false information.

There are some features that people think are part of lying but aren't actually necessary:

The liar believes that what they are 'saying' is not true.

Lying is giving some information while believing it to be untrue, intending to deceive by doing so. Lying is a form of deception, but not all forms of deception are lies. Nobody who writes about lying nowadays can do so without acknowledging an enormous debt to this groundbreaking book: Lying: Moral choice in public and private life, by Sisela Bok, 1978.

If 10 lies are worse than 1 lie then it would seem to be a good thing to tell the first lie, but if lying is always wrong then it's wrong to tell the first lie. Consider the case where telling a lie would mean that 10 other lies would not be told. Most people would say that lying is always wrong, except when there's a good reason for it - which means that it's not always wrong!īut even people who think lying is always wrong have a problem. Lying is probably one of the most common wrong acts that we carry out (one researcher has said 'lying is an unavoidable part of human nature'), so it's worth spending time thinking about it.

Kant on lying