A lie is a statement made by someone who believes or suspects it to be false, in the expectation that the hearers may believe it. Thus a true statement may be a lie if the speaker thinks it is false. Fictions, though false, are not lies. Depending on definitions, a lie can be a genuine falsehood or a selective truth, a lie by omission, or even the truth if the intention is to deceive or to cause an action not in the listener's interests. To lie is to tell a lie. A person who tells a lie, and especially a person who habitually tells lies, is a liar. The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... This article is primarily concerned with truth as it is used in the evaluation of propositions, sentences, and similar items. ... Deception is providing intentionally misleading information to others. ...

Morality of lying

Lying is against the moral standards of many people and is specifically prohibited as a sin in many religions. Ethical traditions and philosophers are divided over whether a lie is ever allowable but are generally opposed—Plato said yes, whereas Aristotle, Saint Augustine and Kant said no. Morality is a complex of principles based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. ... Sin has been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disregard for the norms revealed by God is a sin. ... Ethics is a branch of philosophy dealing with right and wrong in human behaviour. ... The term philosophy derives from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom. ... Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (c. ... Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης AristotelÄ“s) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. ... St. ... A painting of Immanuel Kant in his middle age Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 in Königsberg – February 12, 1804) was a German philosopher from Prussia, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ...

In many countries affected by World War II, it is understood that lying to protect people from an immoral oppressor is generally permissable. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air. ...

Lying in a way that escalates rather than de-escalates a conflict is usually considered the worst sin. An approach to conflict resolution and reducing tension during the discussion of controversial topics. ...

A liar is a person who is known to have a tendency to tell lies. People's tolerance for liars is generally very small, and it is often only necessary to be caught lying once to be labelled as a liar and not trusted again. This is of course moderated by the importance of the matter being lied about.

Jocular lying, more commonly known as kidding around, deceit for the purpose of humor, when the falsehood is generally understood, is often regarded as not immoral and is widely practiced by humorists and comedians.

The philosopher Leo Strauss stressed the necessity of lying in order to conceal a strategic position, or to aid diplomacy. So did earlier figures in political philosophy from Niccolò Machiavelli to Plato's "noble lie". Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a Jewish German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ... This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ... Political philosophy is the study of the fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, property, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should... Detail of the portrait of Machiavelli, ca 1500, in the robes of a Florentine public official Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527) was a Florentine statesman and political philosopher. ... Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (c. ...

It seems extremely unlikely that lies will ever be entirely eliminated from politics, law or diplomacy, just as they cannot be removed from the warfare that these activities are, ultimately, supposed to help pre-empt. For other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). ...

Lying distinguished from bullshitting

In his book On Bullshit (2005), Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfort suggests that lying and bullshitting are not the same thing. A liar differs from a truth-teller in that the former wants to hide the truth while the latter wants to reveal it; but both are very much aware of what the truth is. A liar must remain mindful of the truth, if only so that he does not inadvertently reveal it. A bullshitter, however, is utterly indifferent to the truth. He would not mind if his statements turn out, by accident, to be true. For example, a bank robber who denies that he robbed the bank is a liar; but a car salesman who assures a buyer, without bothering to check, that the car he is trying to sell has been driven only 10,000 miles is a bullshitter. The salesman would not care if it were to turn out that his claim is true after all. He simply does not care what is the truth of the matter. Look up Bullshit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Bullshit is also the name of a card game, and a TV show. ...

Etiquette of lying

Etiquette is largely concerned with questions of lying, blaming and hypocrisy - things often decried in ethics but of great utility in society: Etiquette is the code that governs the expectations of social behavior, the conventional norm. ... See also: BLAME!, a manga by Tsutomu Nihei. ... Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. ... Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. ... ...

The moral reasons to tolerate lies have mostly to do with avoiding conflict. An ethical code will often specify when the truth is required, and when not. In courtrooms, for instance, the adversarial process and standard of evidence that applies restricts questions so that the need for a witness to lie is reduced - thus the truth on the matter at hand is supposed to be more easily revealed. This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... An adversarial process is one that sets up a specific and focused conflict, typically with rewards for prevailing, often in the form of a game. ...

The need to sometimes lie is recognized in the term White Lie (or officious lie), where the lie is harmless, and there are circumstances where there is an expectation to be less than totally honest through necessity or pragmatism. Lies can be divided into classes - injurious or malicious, officious, and jocose, of which only the first class is serious (Catholicism classes the first as a mortal sin but also condemns the others as venial). A white lie is an often trivial, diplomatic or well-intentioned untruth. ... According to Catholicism, a mortal sin, unlike a venial sin, must meet all of the following conditions: subject must be ‘grave matter’; it must be committed with full knowledge, both of the sin and of the gravity of the offense; it must be committed with deliberate and complete consent. ... According to Catholicism, a venial sin is a temporary loss of grace from God. ...

There are some types of lie that are considered acceptable, desirable, or even mandatory, due to social convention. Types of conventional lie include:

• use of euphemisms to avoid explicit mention of something distasteful;
• insincere enquiries after the health of a person not well known;
• assurance of good health in response to insincere enquiry (enquirers are often most disconcerted by anything other than the briefest possible positive response);
• excuses to avoid or terminate an undesired social encounter;
• assurance that a social encounter is desired or has been pleasurable;
• telling a dying person whatever they want to hear;
• concealment of a breach of taboo.

Most people engage in such conventional lying, and do not apply the usual moral disapproval of lying to such situations. Conventional lies are viewed as a lesser category of lie, similar to white lies. However, a minority of people view them as malicious lies. A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. ...

Paradox of lying

Lying is the subject of many paradoxes, the most famous one being known as the liar paradox, commonly expressed as "This sentence is a lie," or "This sentence is false." The so-called Epimenides paradox -- "All Cretans are liars," as stated by Epimenides the Cretan -- is a forerunner of this, though its status as a paradox is disputed. A class of related logic puzzles are known as knights and knaves, in which the goal is to determine who of a group of people is lying and who is telling the truth. Robert Boyles self-flowing flask fills itself in this diagram, but perpetual motion machines do not exist. ... In philosophy and logic, the liar paradox encompasses paradoxical statements such as: or To avoid having a sentence directly refer to its own truth value, one can also construct the paradox as follows: // Eubulides of Miletus words The oldest version of the liar paradox is attributed to the Greek philosopher... The Epimenides paradox is a problem in logic. ... Knights and knaves are a type of logic puzzle devised by Raymond Smullyan. ...

Much ethical dilemma is based on related ethical paradox on issues of lying. Some famous ones include the question of whether anyone, hiding refugees from an oppressive and racist government, might owe the truth to an official who comes asking where they are. An ethical dilemma is a situation that often involves an apparent conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. ...

Psychology of lying

The capacity of hominids to lie is noted early and nearly universally in human development and language studies with Great Apes. One famous lie by the latter was when Koko the Gorilla, confronted by her handlers after a tantrum in which she had torn a steel sink out of its moorings, signed in American Sign Language, "cat did it," pointing at her tiny kitten. It is unclear if this was a joke or a genuine attempt at blaming her tiny pet. Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... Developmental psychology is the scientific study of age related changes in behavior across the life span. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... This article is about the gorilla. ... Type species Gorilla gorilla Western Gorilla Species Gorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The gorilla, the largest of the primates, is a ground-dwelling herbivore that inhabits the forests of central Africa. ... American Sign Language is the dominant sign language in the United States, anglophone Canada and parts of Mexico. ... Trinomial name Felis silvestris catus Schreber, 1775 The cat (also called domestic cat or house cat) is a small feline carnivorous mammal. ... See also: BLAME!, a manga by Tsutomu Nihei. ...

Evolutionary psychology is concerned with the theory of mind which people employ to simulate another's reaction to their story and determine if a lie will be believable. The most commonly cited milestone in the rising of this, what is known as Machiavellian intelligence, is at the human age of about four and a half years, when children begin to be able to lie convincingly. Before this, they seem simply unable to comprehend that anyone doesn't see the same view of events that they do - and seem to assume that there is only one point of view—their own—that must be integrated into any given story. Evolutionary psychology (or EP) proposes that human and primate cognition and behavior could be better understood by examining them in light of human and primate evolutionary history. ... The phrase theory of mind can be used in several ways. ... In cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, Machiavellian Intelligence (Political Intelligence or Social Intelligence), is the capacity of an entity in successful political engagement with social groups. ... A point of view, viewpoint or POV, is the following: On a given topic, a point of view is a cognitive perspective. ...

Paradoxically, a Big Lie is often easier to get people to believe, and more difficult for them to challenge even when facts contradict it. Propaganda is often based on choosing some very large but comfortable lie which is hard to challenge for social status or other reasons - and spreading this throughout a whole society. The oft-cited Big Lie Theory originated with Adolf Hitlers 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf. ... North Korean propaganda showing a soldier destroying the United States Capitol building. ...

Sociology and linguistics of lying

Lying and blaming are so basic to society that it is hard to formally study them. George Lakoff, in criticizing some claims of George W. Bush made prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, notes that See also: BLAME!, a manga by Tsutomu Nihei. ... ... George P. Lakoff is a professor of linguistics (in particular, cognitive linguistics) at the University of California, Berkeley where he has taught since 1972. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is a politician and the current (43rd) president of the United States. ... The 2003 invasion of Iraq, also called the Iraq War or Operation Iraqi Freedom, began March 20, 2003, initiated by the United States, the United Kingdom and a loosely-defined coalition. ...

Are they lies—or are they merely exaggerations, misleading statements, mistakes, rhetorical excesses and so on? Linguists study such matters. The most startling finding is that, in considering whether a statement is a lie, the least important consideration for most people is whether it is true! The more important considerations are, Did he believe it? Did he intend to deceive? Was he trying to gain some advantage or to harm someone else? Is it a serious matter, or a trivial one? Is it "just" a matter of political rhetoric? Most people will grant that, even if the statement happened to be false, if he believed it, wasn't trying to deceive, and was not trying to gain advantage or harm any one, then there was no lie. If it was a lie in the service of a good cause, then it was a white lie. If it was based on faulty information, then it was an honest mistake. If it was just there for emphasis, then it was an exaggeration.

These have been among the administration's defenses. The good cause: liberating Iraq. The faulty information: from the CIA. The emphasis: enthusiasm for a great cause. Even though there is evidence that the President and his advisers knew the information was false, they can deflect the use of the L-word. The falsehoods have been revealed and they, in themselves, do not matter much to most people.

Broadly conceived, linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups. ...

Lies and trust

One reason that lying may persist as a strategy in social settings is that it is not the comparison of the facts against some abstract notion of truth, but rather, the assessment of whether or not a betrayal of trust has occurred, that determines the response to a lie. This article is primarily concerned with truth as it is used in the evaluation of propositions, sentences, and similar items. ... The term trust has several meanings: In sociology, trust is the willingly acceptance of one persons power to affect another. ...

In the case of the Iraq war, for instance, the fact that lies escalated a conflict may have made it a quite serious breach of trust and betrayal of those who would suffer in that conflict. However, anyone who accepts as true the assertion that the regime in place was an inevitable threat to those who perished fighting it, or whose lives are at risk in the aftermath of the invasion, would be far less likely to consider escalating the conflict at the most convenient time to be any kind of betrayal. The perspective of the common sense conservative quite often relies on this kind of assumption of certainty. But if conflicts that are to be escalated are chosen due to some ideology, it is hard to see how this differs from simple might makes right logic. A common sense conservative is an advocate of conservative politics who adopts the rhetoric of common sense to frame his arguments. ... An ideology is a collection of ideas. ... Might makes right is an aphorism describing a morality which dictates that its those who are the strongest will rule others and have the power to determine right and wrong. ...

Lies during childhood

Lying begins at an early age. Young children learn from experience that stating an untruth can avoid punishment for misdeeds, before they develop the theory of mind necessary to understand why it works. In this stage of development, children will sometimes tell fantastic and unbelievable lies, resembling the lie of Koko the Gorilla discussed above, because they lack the conceptual framework to judge whether a statement is believable or even to understand the concept of believability. The phrase theory of mind can be used in several ways. ...

When children first learn how lying works, naturally they lack the moral understanding to refrain from doing it. It takes years of watching people lie and the results of lies to develop a proper understanding. Propensity to lie varies greatly between children, some doing so habitually and others being habitually honest. Habits in this regard are likely to change into early adulthood. Morality is a complex of principles based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. ...

Some view children as on the whole more prone to lie than adults. Others argue that the amount of lying stays the same, but adults lie about different things. Certainly adult lying tends to be more sophisticated. A lot of this judgement depends on whether one counts tactful untruths, social insincerity, political rhetoric, and other standard adult behaviours as lying.

• See also: Lie-to-children

A lie-to-children is an expression that describes a form of simplification of material, for consumption by children. ...

Lie detection

The question of whether lies can reliably be detected through non-verbal means is a subject of particular controversy. http://members. ...

• Polygraph lie detector machines measure the physiological stress a subject endures in a number of measures while he or she gives statements or answers questions. Spikes in stress are said to indicate lying behavior. The accuracy of this method is widely disputed, and in several well-known cases it was proven to have been deceived. Nonetheless, it remains in use in many areas.

• Various truth drugs have been proposed and used anecdotally, though none is considered very reliable. The CIA attempted to find a universal "truth serum" in the MK-ULTRA project, but it was largely a fiasco.

• Facial microexpressions have been shown to reliably expose lying, according to Paul Ekman's Diogenes Project. Namely, a tiny flash of a "distress" facial expression, though difficult to see with the untrained eye, may give away when a person is lying.

More recently, neuroscientists have found that lying activates completely different brain structures during MRI scans, which may lead to a more accurate (if impractical) method of lie detection. A polygraph or lie detector is a device which measures and records several physiological variables such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and skin conductivity while a series of questions is being asked, in an attempt to detect lies. ... Stress has different meanings in different fields: Stress (physics); see also tensile stress, shear stress and pressure. ... A truth drug (or truth serum) is a drug used for the purposes of obtaining accurate information from an unwilling subject, most often by a police, intelligence, or military organization on a prisoner. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is one of the American foreign intelligence agencies, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Project MKULTRA (also known as MK-ULTRA) was the code name for a CIA mind control research program lasting from the 1950s through the 1970s. ... A microexpression is a tiny facial expression that lasts less than a quarter of a second. ... Paul Ekman (born 1934) was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Newark, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and southern California. ... A facial expression results from one or more motions or positions of the muscles of the face. ... Neuroscience is a field of study which deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the nervous system. ... For other meanings see Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). ...

Related topic

• Demagogy
• Big Lie

Demagogy is the set of methods used by demagogues. ... The oft-cited Big Lie Theory originated with Adolf Hitlers 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf. ...

See also

• Nonsense
• Bullshit
• Gibberish
• Gobbledygook
• The Boy who cried Wolf!
• Prisoner's dilemma
• Taqiyya
• Tall tale

Nonsense is an utterance or written text in what appears to be a human language or other symbolic system, that does not in fact carry any identifiable meaning. ... Look up Bullshit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Bullshit is also the name of a card game, and a TV show. ... Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech but has no actual meaning. ... Gobbledygook or gobbledegook is an English term used to describe nonsensical language, or sound that resembles language but has no meaning, or encrypted text. ... The boy who cried Wolf! is a fable by Aesop. ... Will the two prisoners cooperate to minimise total loss of liberty or will one of them, trusting the other to cooperate, betray him so as to go free? The prisoners dilemma is a type of non-zero-sum game (game in the sense of Game Theory). ... In Shia Islamic tradition, Taqiyya (التقية) is the dissimulation of one’s religious beliefs when one fears for ones life, the lives of ones family members, or for the preservation of the faith. ... A tall tale is a story that claims to explain the reason for some natural phenomenon, or sometimes illustrates how skilled/intelligent/powerful the subject of the tale was. ...

References

Frankfort, Harry: On Bullshit Princeton University Press (2005).

External links

• What is Compulsive Lying?
• Psych Forums: Compulsive Lying Forum
• Health Diaries: Compulsive Lying Blogs
• Some Philosophizing About Lying
• Essential Lying