If we just pay attention to the evidential entanglements instead of being confused by words, then there’s no functional difference between saying “I reserve the right to lie p% of the time about whether something belongs to category C”, and adopting a new, less-accurate category system that misclassifies p% of instances with respect to the old system.
It is true that there is a version of re-drawing the categories and lying a proportion of the time that are functionally identical. But I think that many cases are in fact not functionally identical. Suppose I say “I’ve decided to use the word ‘book’ for what you used to call books, and also vegan chocolate bars”. Well now you’re less sure what I’m talking about when I say the word ‘book’ and don’t know whether reading or eating is the appropriate response to receiving one, but you still have a decent sense. Now, instead, suppose I say “I’m going to use the word ‘book’ for what you used to call books, but also a small number of random other things”. Now you have much less idea what I’m talking about when I talk about ‘books’! Maybe they could kill you! I could change on-the-spot my categorization system without contradicting what I said, and the ‘fake books’ could be a variety of crazy different things rather than all coming from the same old category. To me, this seems basically like a case of blatant lies being the best kind.
It is true that there is a version of re-drawing the categories and lying a proportion of the time that are functionally identical. But I think that many cases are in fact not functionally identical. Suppose I say “I’ve decided to use the word ‘book’ for what you used to call books, and also vegan chocolate bars”. Well now you’re less sure what I’m talking about when I say the word ‘book’ and don’t know whether reading or eating is the appropriate response to receiving one, but you still have a decent sense. Now, instead, suppose I say “I’m going to use the word ‘book’ for what you used to call books, but also a small number of random other things”. Now you have much less idea what I’m talking about when I talk about ‘books’! Maybe they could kill you! I could change on-the-spot my categorization system without contradicting what I said, and the ‘fake books’ could be a variety of crazy different things rather than all coming from the same old category. To me, this seems basically like a case of blatant lies being the best kind.