What, it doesn’t count as a lie if it’s in writing? That’s a hell of a system of contract law they’ve got in this allegorical kingdom.
I have a different answer to this than what has been given so far :
It’s a question of implicit conventions. The king’s challenge follows and mimics the jester’s challenge. In the jester’s challenge, the jester makes a statement about the truth value of the inscriptions on the boxes. By doing this, he sets the precedent that the inscriptions on the boxes are part of the game and do not engage the honesty of the game maker. The inscriptions can be true of false, and it’s part of the challenge to guess what is each one. Only the jester’s own words engage his honesty. If he lied, the challenge would be rigged.
The king mimics the jester’s setup, but makes no statement about the truth value of the inscriptions on the boxes. That difference should have sounded suspicious to the jester. He should have asked the king if the statements were logical. The king could have lied, but at that point if the king was ready to lie then he’d probably kill the jester even if he found the key.
Definitions matter. If you define a lie as an intentional deception attempt, then the king lied, if you define it as uttering a falsehood, then he didn’t. The modern legal tradition is hazy on this point, and intentional deception without actually making false statements sometimes invalidates a contract, and sometimes doesn’t.
It is possible that “This box contains the key” was a true statement at the time it was written, and then the contents were changed. The king’s explanation does specify an ordering of events.
And if the king wanted to be particularly nasty the other box would also contain a dagger
No, that the king specified couldn’t happen. One of the morals of the parable is that the king didn’t lie.
What, it doesn’t count as a lie if it’s in writing? That’s a hell of a system of contract law they’ve got in this allegorical kingdom.
I have a different answer to this than what has been given so far :
It’s a question of implicit conventions. The king’s challenge follows and mimics the jester’s challenge. In the jester’s challenge, the jester makes a statement about the truth value of the inscriptions on the boxes. By doing this, he sets the precedent that the inscriptions on the boxes are part of the game and do not engage the honesty of the game maker. The inscriptions can be true of false, and it’s part of the challenge to guess what is each one. Only the jester’s own words engage his honesty. If he lied, the challenge would be rigged.
The king mimics the jester’s setup, but makes no statement about the truth value of the inscriptions on the boxes. That difference should have sounded suspicious to the jester. He should have asked the king if the statements were logical. The king could have lied, but at that point if the king was ready to lie then he’d probably kill the jester even if he found the key.
Definitions matter. If you define a lie as an intentional deception attempt, then the king lied, if you define it as uttering a falsehood, then he didn’t. The modern legal tradition is hazy on this point, and intentional deception without actually making false statements sometimes invalidates a contract, and sometimes doesn’t.
I could make up a new language for every sentence I utter, and claim that 2⁄3 of the words I am merely speaking to myself in an unrelated monologue.
Communication is so context-dependent that I see the utterance of “it was assumed, not implied” as an admission to deceit.
It is possible that “This box contains the key” was a true statement at the time it was written, and then the contents were changed. The king’s explanation does specify an ordering of events.
A statement that’s neither true nor false can’t be false...
Yes, but lies needn’t be falsities, any more than honest statements need be true.