Some people seem to lie automatically, but they also seem to do it without intending to lie, which poses some interesting questions.
We've all done a little of this, and in some contexts it's sort of expected, but some people seem to do it far too much. What am I talking about? It's a kind of casual lying for the sake of conversation: call it "embellishing."
If you're sitting over drinks telling what used to be called "war stories," say reminiscing about your college days or something, nobody really believes most of what they hear because exaggeration and enhancement of events is expected. And sometimes when you're talking about something you might add a few colorful details or expand a little on what someone said. This is strictly speaking lying, but it's not really. You're not so much trying to deceive as you are trying to entertain.
But with some people this truth-stretching seems to be habitual. Some do it badly; you know they'll always top whatever you say, and you expect it, so it fails as lying except possibly in intent. On the other hand, some do it well, and then you are deceived, so it's lying in effect. My question is, is it also lying in intent?
I'm not sure. I know people who do this sort of thing. It took me a while to catch on, and sometimes they still take me in, but what's puzzling is that I don't think they lie with intent, as a lawyer might say. I think what happens is that they're simply caught up in a certain mode of conversation. One tip-off is that if you query them about what they've just said, they initially seem surprised or at least somewhat taken aback. It's as if they have to replay in their heads what they just said. This strongly suggests that they lied without intent.
I think some of the references in postings on my article on honesty to pathological and compulsive liars were to the people I'm talking about. But it's not really compulsive lying, and likely not pathological lying, which thankfully is rare. Instead it's a kind of excess. Just as some people talk too much, some people embellish what they say. And just as those who talk too much seldom really appreciate just how much they talk, those who embellish seldom are aware of what they're doing.
Is there an ethical point here? Again, I'm not sure, because I have serious doubts that "compulsive embellishers" are really compulsive liars.
