Maybe it is worth starting with a core definition of a lie that most people would agree with, something like “an utterance that is consciously considered by the person uttering it to misrepresent reality as they know it at that moment, with the intention to force the recipient to adjust their map of reality to be less accurate”. Well, that’s unwieldy. Maybe “an attempt to deceive through conscious misrepresentation of one’s models”? Still not great.
Maybe it is worth starting with a core definition of a lie that most people would agree with, something like “an utterance that is consciously considered by the person uttering it to misrepresent reality as they know it at that moment, with the intention to force the recipient to adjust their map of reality to be less accurate”. Well, that’s unwieldy. Maybe “an attempt to deceive through conscious misrepresentation of one’s models”? Still not great.