Abstract

In the paper the authors discuss phenomenon of habitual (or automatic) lying and compare it with a standard criterion of lying. Habitual lying seems to occupy middle ground between telling the whole truth and telling a lie with previous intent to deceive. Finally, they try to answer some, it appears, most probable objections to such criterion of habitual lying. The criterion itself rests on the basic distinction between intent to deceive previous or to an act of uttering a false sentence as being true (or vice versa) and an intention implicit in the very act of uttering a sentence.

Key words: Habitual lying, intent to deceive, intention implicit in an act, intention previous to an act, lying, lying automatically, searle, truth-telling, wittgenstein.