What is it about?
It's about the idea that lying necessarily involves the intention to deceive your addressee. I argue that this idea is wrong and that some liars may even intend to tell the truth to their hearer by way of having the hearer recognize that they are lying to them (for this purpose). I use various examples to demonstrate my point.
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Why is it important?
The issue of whether liars must intend to deceive is theoretically important but it also has a very important practical application. For example, when a politician utters something blatantly false (and we think she knows she is saying something untrue and that we know this), it is natural to wonder whether this person actually wants us to believe her words or she is merely stating something ‘for the record.’ She could even be mocking us. These are all relevant issues that require knowing what exactly lying amounts to
Perspectives
I personally think this is a very neat paper that tackles some important and difficult issues using simple language and examples, which makes it accessible to anybody.
Vladimir Krstic
University of Auckland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Can You Lie Without Intending to Deceive?, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, July 2018, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/papq.12241.
You can read the full text:
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