astercontrol:

i’m at the door that is guarded by the one guard who only lies and the other one who only tells the truth

but my options are further complicated by the fact that I got this information about those guards from a sign that’s posted nearby

and I don’t know which one of them wrote it

(the pedantic voice in my head that fact-checks all my thoughts, reading my own tags) :

“but Aster, that second tag looks wrong to me, are you sure”

me:

fair point. if you take the traditional definition of lying (as opposed to honest mistakes or jokes or miscommunications)…. it requires (1) communicating a message that (2) is untrue, (3) you believe it is untrue, and (4) you intend to convince someone else it is true.

Therefore lying can only be done by people who are capable of (1) communicating, (2) having accurate information and (3) firm beliefs about what they’re saying, and (4) being aware that they could convince other people to have a false belief.

And even if a person is capable of all these things, it is still theoretically possible to live a whole life without using these abilities to tell a lie.

so, yes. you’re right. there probably are people who “never lie”

my statement was inaccurate. I have said something untrue; you’ve correctly deduced that I am not the one who always tells the truth.

whether I am one who lies, however, requires you to know things about me that you quite frankly can’t prove, ever.

So there.