A Functional Analysis of Human Deception
Krstić V.
December 2024Cambridge University Press
Journal of the American Philosophical Association
2024#10Issue 4836 - 854 pp.
A satisfactory analysis of human deception must rule out cases where it is a mistake or an accident that person B was misled by person As behavior. Therefore, most scholars think that deceivers must intend to deceive. This article argues that there is a better solution: rather than appealing to the deceivers intentions, we should appeal to the function of their behavior. After all, animals and plants engage in deception, and most of them are not capable of forming intentions. Accordingly, certain human behavior is deceptive if and only if its function is to mislead. This solves our problem because if the function of As behavior was to mislead, Bs ending up misled was not an accident or a mere mistake even if A did not intend to deceive B.
deception , function , intention , mimicry , misinformation , signaling
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
Nazarbayev University
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026