I was having this debate with my wife. She reckons it needs intent, whereas I think it doesn't. So if you say "It's going to rain today", and it doesn't, she thinks you just got it wrong but weren't lying as such because there was no intent, but I think you lied.
2006-10-18 22:22:06 · 9 answers · asked by johninmelb 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
In general, I think your wife is correct - intentional disregard for the the truth (as determined by a 'burden of reasonable evidence') is lying. If you 'know' that a given thing is true and have accepted it as such but then say otherwise you are lying.
If you believe something to be true, and make a statement based on this belief which is later shown to be false, this isn't lying. You were just wrong.
There is a sort of grey area here, though. The issue is, what burden of evidence do you accept before you accept something as being true? If your standards of evidence for the truth of proposition A are much higher than your standards of evidence for proposition B, then this may lead you to accept proposition B and reject proposition A even though to an unbiased observer A is plainly true and B is false. It could be said that in this situation you are lying to yourself about the truth of B, and thus any statement you make about the truth of B to others is also a lie.
So the issue here is - do we define cognitive bias as lying? Or merely a form of 'honest' mental disfunction? Perhaps that depends on how aware you are of your cognitive bias....whether there is a nagging bit of your conscience somewhere, telling you that you are kidding yourself......
2006-10-18 23:12:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you honestly believed that it was going to rain, that is not a lie. If you were just taking a wild guess, then it was dishonest of you to imply that you KNEW. A lie requires intent or at least a lack of intent to be truthful.
2006-10-19 05:26:34 · answer #2 · answered by Kuji 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It does involve intent; otherwise, it's an honest mistake. However, if you say that it's going to rain today as fact without knowing it 100%, that would be similar to a lie, but if you say "in your opinion" it's going to rain and it didn't, it wouldn't be a lie.
2006-10-19 05:24:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
lying does require intent/motive or perceived intent/motive to deceive. telling an untruth is perceived as saying something without enough information to make a truthful statement.
2006-10-19 05:29:52 · answer #4 · answered by oldguy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont think it always does as u get some people who lie just for the sake of it as its in their personality and they have a disorder rather than a genuine intent everytime they tell a lie!
2006-10-19 05:46:36 · answer #5 · answered by Scots lass 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's an intent to hind the truth.
however saying ''it's going to rain today'' is more of a statement or a rhetorical question as opposed to a lie.
2006-10-19 05:33:07 · answer #6 · answered by Heather 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
R u arguing in the eye of law ? Then `intent' is a critical key word.
2006-10-19 05:25:32 · answer #7 · answered by Bright 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
deliberate lying requires intent, yes. The weather analogy, is just someone simply getting it wrong.
2006-10-19 05:35:16 · answer #8 · answered by Hobnobs 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are spontaneous lying and intended lying. both needs planning in advance using different scenarios
2006-10-19 05:26:43 · answer #9 · answered by fair-and-squire 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋