2006-07-28 12:27:38 · 14 answers · asked by nanopug 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
The person is fictional who has never told a lie before.
2006-07-28 12:39:48 · update #1
Here the word 'liar' can mean either 'have lied before' or 'am lying now' or both.
So if the speaker intends only 'have lied before', he is lying now.
If he only intends 'am lying now', he is neither lying nor telling the truth - he is uttering a self-contradiction, and a self-contradiction can be neither true nor false. (It is a self-contradiction because it is an assertion, and an assertion is, by definition, a claim to be speaking the truth.)
If he intends both 'have lied before' and 'am lying now', he is again contradicting himself, because to intend 'I am now lying' is always to utter a self-contradiction - for the reasons already given above.
2006-07-28 12:59:03 · answer #1 · answered by brucebirdfield 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When he says, "I am a liar," this itself is a lie, for he has never lied before and therefore could not be a liar. Because this is a lie, he becomes a liar after saying this, and if he says it again it would be true. At the moment he says it, however, he is not a liar, and is therefore lying.
2006-07-28 19:33:49 · answer #2 · answered by Tim 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He must have. Either he's told a lie before and is telling the truth about being a liar, or he has never lied before and is now lying about telling lies previously.
2006-07-28 19:30:16 · answer #3 · answered by Mordent 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All people have lied. Therefore there is no person who has never lied before, so your question is not about a real situation.
2006-07-28 19:30:54 · answer #4 · answered by Larry 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who knows...just because he didn't lie before doesn't mean he's not a liar now.
2006-07-28 19:47:13 · answer #5 · answered by flignar 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they never lied you would asume this would be truthful as well. We can't really answer definately it will depend on the person don't you think?
2006-07-28 19:31:06 · answer #6 · answered by momsapplepeye 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah... he lied about not being a liar.
2006-07-28 19:31:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes b/c everyone has told a lie
2006-07-28 19:31:03 · answer #8 · answered by a8enyne 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes he lied at least once either way...
2006-07-28 19:31:20 · answer #9 · answered by Love always, Kortnei 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
may be he have lied before
2006-07-28 19:36:14 · answer #10 · answered by sarah m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋