# Does a lie require intent to deceive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2005, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212 "2005-04-01T10:50:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8dc957/32.png) [@Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Christopher_Robin_Davies)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/21 "2012-02-06T15:55:29Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > A thought experiment: > > I go to a lapdancing club in order to [help young women become financially independent](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4400535.stm), and while there hook up with one of the dancers. > > We go back to her place and spend all night shagging like bunnies. > > The next morning I return home to my wife and confess, saying “Honey, I went home with a lap dancer… but I **promise** I didn’t sleep with her”. > > My statement is (technically) correct: at no time did we go to sleep. > > When the paternity suit comes through do you think my wife will make the distinction between a lie and a misleading impression? No, that is a lie because the phrase sleep with does not mean to slumber in the same bed. It means to have carnal knowledge of another person. This is called an idiom I believe. Anyway if you said “My wife kicked me out after she found out I slept with a prostitute” no one would think you were lying because she did not apply her foot to your backside in a vigorous fashion because they would know the meaning of “kicked out” was a separate thing from the words that make up the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/22 "2012-02-06T15:59:12Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > What’s the difference? Don’t expect a reply from the zombie OP. 😉 **GomiBoy** ’s last SDMB post was in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/23 "2012-02-06T16:18:43Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > What’s the difference? One is called lying, the other is called marketing. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/24 "2012-02-06T16:20:28Z")
> [@ShawnJan](#): > > I have all the intention of quitting, and I swear to my wife that I will not smoke another cigarette in my life… with NO INTENT TO DECEIVE HER (it was not a lie). A month passes by, and I find myself weak and the craving of a cigarette was overbearing, so I had one. Did I lie to my wife? When I told her I wouldn’t have another cigarette, there was no intention to deceive her (I was not lying to her when I told her that). Its not a lie, its a broken promise, and no less likely to have you sleeping on the couch. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/25 "2012-02-06T16:40:19Z")
> [@GomiBoy](#): > > But what if my intent is only to create a misleading impression but not to actually deceive? That, too, is deception. The answer to the question in your OP is an unqualified “yes”. The person must present something he knows to be untrue, otherwise he is merely mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/26 "2012-02-06T18:17:50Z")
There is another factor to consider in what makes a lie immoral, and that is the moral right of the person being lied to hear the truth. What constitutes a moral right will be highly disputed, but this is the reason that you don’t tell the Nazis that you’re hiding Jews in the attic. Also, the drug company statement is borderline since ‘advertising statements’ was mentioned. Some people (like me) would then assume the statements are not to be believed, and wouldn’t be deceieved. So you could be telling lies to some people, and not to others. But it does sound like an intent to deceive, so it would probably get chalked up in the lie column. Additionally, the truth can be used to deceive, lies aren’t the only way. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/27 "2012-02-06T20:44:59Z")
I think William Blake is relevant here. _A truth that’s told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent._ ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212/28 "2012-02-06T21:44:19Z")
George Costanza from Seinfeld says: “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-lie-require-intent-to-deceive/297212.md?page=1)