A man walks up to and says:
"Everything I tell you is a lie."
Is he telling the truth or is he lying?
Best reasoning gets 10pts.
2006-07-28 04:22:56 · 45 answers · asked by osubuckeye 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hes doing neither.
If he only tells the truth - then his statement indicating he is lying counters that - so he cant be ONLY telling the truth.
If he only tells lies - then he's just reavealed that by saying so - the truth - so he cannot be ONLY telling lies.
He HAS to be doing both...... lying and truth telling with no indication as to how much of either he does.
2006-07-28 04:28:01 · answer #1 · answered by Alexander Shannon 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
He would be lying. Because if he tells you that everything he says is a lie and he is telling the truth about that statement then everything he says isn't a lie. Because he made a true statement. So if he claims that everything he says is a lie then you must assume that what he is telling you is a not the truth. So he is lying.
2006-07-28 05:05:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is lying, not everything he says is going to be a lie. The truth will come out at some point.
2006-07-28 05:36:03 · answer #3 · answered by miki 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He has to be lying because if everything he says is a lie then what he just said is a lie. He can't be telling the truth because that would a lie and he'd be lying then.
2006-07-28 04:59:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is telling you the truth in ADMITTING he's telling you a lie in every statement he makes. I the first words out of his mouth are "Everything I tell you is a lie", he's owning up to the TRUTH about himself and therefore the person he speaks with knows that he's lying from that point forward.
2006-07-28 04:49:59 · answer #5 · answered by bigvol662004 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Based on the single statement that you have given it is impossible to tell. He could be telling the truth or he could be telling a lie. If he had a past history of lying, then he everything that he tells me is the truth. If he is telling me the truth, then everything that he tells me from that point on is a lie.
2006-07-28 04:27:53 · answer #6 · answered by Preacher 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Clearly the man is lying because though his statement cancels itself out, he is making an attempt at honesty, therefore he is being truthful, and by being truthful the man is telling a lie because he claims that everything he tells you is a lie.
2006-07-28 04:31:18 · answer #7 · answered by too2lforschool 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Obviously he is lying. It doesn't matter what he says after this point, because if he tells a truth, then his original statement has been a lie, and if he tells a lie, then his original statement is proven true, which means that the statement is a lie. Therefore, the statement is a lie, no matter what he says after this point.
I'm sure this makes much more sense in my head than it does written here. I apologize
2006-07-28 04:30:01 · answer #8 · answered by shawna 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's lying. Not everything he tells me is a lie, but this is. He will have to tell me some truth later. But he's not telling the truth now because that would contradict his opening statement.
2006-07-28 04:29:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is lying, therfore telling the truth... :)
Say to him, "Answer only yes or no. Were you lying to me when you said, 'Everything I tell you is a lie'?"
No matter his response, there will be some "truth" to it.
If he says "No"... Then he is saying that he was NOT LYING to you when he told you that everything he says is a lie. So in that case, HE JUST TOLD THE TRUTH.
If he says "Yes"... Then he is saying that he WAS LYING when he told you that everything he says is a lie, therefore admitting that he DOES TELL THE TRUTH sometimes.
T.
2006-07-28 05:21:14 · answer #10 · answered by Theophania 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋