Re: What Is A Lie?
Originally posted by Storm
Deception includes the range of means whereby people may be mislead. The most evident of these is lying. But it also includes withholding information which the person might find of immediate significance, as well as misleading the person into some alternative belief, or reinforcing such a belief. Then there are the more marginal forms of deception, such as evasion, euphemism and exaggeration; and the often unconscious forms of deception (without intention to mislead), such as the subtle changes of subject, the disguises, the gestures leading astray, and silence and inaction.A common temptation is to define a lie as a statement that isn’ t true. But things are more complicated than this. Telling stories or jokes is not lying, even when falsehoods are involved, at least when the audience knows them for what they are. The same holds for exaggerations that are readily seen to be such.
The importance of someone' s intentions has been long recognised by philosophers. St. Augustine argued that “a person is to be judged as lying or not lying according to the intention in his own mind, not according to the truth or falsity of the statement.”
What is a lie?
Originally posted by StormWhen someone defines a lie as a statement that is not the truth, they are only saying that for a concept to be a lie, it must be a statement that is not the truth. They are not saying that nothing else can be a statement that is not true. Likewise, happiness is defined as a state of mind characterized by pleasure. Joy could justifiably be defined in the exact same way. Therefore, defining a lie as a statement that is not the truth is a sufficient definition in my opinion, and, due to laziness on my part, it is the definition that I shall continue to use.
Deception includes the range of means whereby people may be mislead. The most evident of these is lying. But it also includes withholding information which the person might find of immediate significance, as well as misleading the person into some alternative belief, or reinforcing such a belief. Then there are the more marginal forms of deception, such as evasion, euphemism and exaggeration; and the often unconscious forms of deception (without intention to mislead), such as the subtle changes of subject, the disguises, the gestures leading astray, and silence and inaction.A common temptation is to define a lie as a statement that isn’ t true. But things are more complicated than this. Telling stories or jokes is not lying, even when falsehoods are involved, at least when the audience knows them for what they are. The same holds for exaggerations that are readily seen to be such.
The importance of someone' s intentions has been long recognised by philosophers. St. Augustine argued that “a person is to be judged as lying or not lying according to the intention in his own mind, not according to the truth or falsity of the statement.”
What is a lie?
Originally posted by debbiejoIf a burn victim asks you "How do I look today?" and your opinion is that they look monstrous at all times, it might be considered positive to conceal your true feelings and tell them, " You look very nice today!".
If you go by scripture, then it's ANY non truth....Therefore evil, and breaking one of the big 10.....but as was pointed out it is subjective.....as Lil B stated...So, out of curiosity are there good lies?