this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
48 points (94.4% liked)

Asklemmy

44149 readers
1431 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 49 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A lie needs to be intentional. If they meant to fulfill the promise, it wasn't a lie.

[–] JWBananas@startrek.website 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lie to yourself is still a lie.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Yes. If your history with such promises is you always break them, then making another of those promises is a lie unless you’ve changed something about your ability to deliver

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Lies don't need to be intentional. You may not have been lying in the moment, but (especially if it's by your own actions) you have made yourself a liar after the fact if you don't keep to your promise. Your logic sounds like a narcissist's rhetoric. Your intent in the moment is worthless without follow through and does not relieve you of responsibility.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Intent in the moment is a part of the definition of a lie, yes.

You have to knowingly provide false information to lie.

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Calling me a narcissist for having a different definition of a lie than you is... interesting. I never said it would relieve them of responsibility. You are still responsible for your mistakes and need to stand up for them. But that wasn't the question. Most definitions of "lie" I can find, such as Merriam Webster's do explicitly include intent to deceive.

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I didn't call you anything, but it is interesting that you lept to that conclusion. Dictionaries are descriptive not prescriptive, so not sure how that's relevant in this discussion.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Yes and the thing dictionaries describe is the definitions of words. Since we’re talking about the definition of lying, that’s where the dictionary becomes relevant here.

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

it is interesting that you lept to that conclusion. That is something a narcissist would do, but I don’t know you so I’ll definitely not calling you that.

I... really don't know what your problem is. It's possible to have a civil discussion without throwing around implications like that. Especially if it's about the frigging definition of a word.

Dictionaries are descriptive not prescriptive, so not sure how that’s relevant in this discussion.

OP asked if something is a lie, so the definition of a lie is what's relevant to answer this question. OP did not ask for a moral judgement.

[–] Eramidik@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

What if they intended to fulfill the promise but never actually did? Does that not make it a lie all the same?

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 19 points 1 year ago

I don't think so. That would make it a mistake. Just like if I made a claim that I believed true but wasn't.

[–] De_Narm@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Am I lying if I try to answer a question to the best of my knowledge and end up being wrong?

I don't think you can make something a lie retroactively if it was supposed to be true at the time.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is still a bit of a gray area there, though, which is that if you know you are not a subject matter expert, you should try to disclose that.

Hence why "IANAL" is so recurring on any online discussion about legal advice, because you want to offer what insight you can but you definitely don't want to mislead anyone into believing your potentially dangerous legal advice is authoritative.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I disclose that by using words that describe my level of certainty. Like “I think” or “Possibly” or “It may be the case” or “I’m tempted to think”.

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If I promise to drive you to the airport but moments before I'm to pick you up my mom has a stroke and winds up in the emergency room, and I call you and tell you get a cab my mom just had a stroke. Did I lie? Answer : no I didn't.

It's only a lie if I had no intention of picking you up to begin with.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not a lie the first time. But if you promise to do the dishes and then go to bed without doing them several times, the next time you promise it, it's a lie.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Going to bed without doing the dishes even once makes it a lie, unless you’re literally passing out and just happen to steer yourself to fall on the bed.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Still not a lie if you intended to do them. It turns out to be misleading, false and a failure but thats not lying.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Lying to yourself is still lying.

Also, saying you can fly is a lie even if you intend to fly. Saying you will lift a car is a lie even if you want to lift the car.

Saying you will do something and then making no effort to do that thing is lying. I don't care that in the moment you say it you intend to do it, if you don't intend to take the steps that lead you to do it, it's lying.

Saying you will do the dishes and then never walking up to the sink or turning on the water and instead playing video games and then going to bed is lying. You will not do the dishes, even though you said you would.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

No, its only a lie if they say they were going to do it without ever intending to do so. If they intended to do it and something happened that prevented them from doing it, it wasn't a lie. If you're looking for a reason to be pissed at someone for not fulfilling a promise you still can be justified depending on the rest of the context.

[–] Helix@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

No, that makes the person who promised to do something incapable of doing it. If I promise to jump over a stool and fail that doesn't make me a liar because I actually intended to fulfill that promise.

[–] arin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Depends on their actions after the promise, if they don't attempt then it's a lie