UCLA

While philosophers largely discussed the concept of lying from a conceptual analytical approach, less research was focus on the empirical basis of those ideas. This dissertation explores the concept of lying from a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective. In the first chapter I look at the concept of lying in Shuar-Achuar small scale communities from the Pastaza basin in Ecuador. This chapter shows how the concept is instantiated in the pragmatic-semantic interface and it is shaped by normative and ontological cultural particularities. The second chapter addresses the concept of lying as a conceptual prototype in eleven languages. This project shows both commonalities and differences across linguistic and cultural communities. Finally, chapter three unfolds the use of the concepts of truth and lying in the context of conflict resolution and the decision-making process in a Shuar-Achuar community.