What is truth, what is a lie? In the post-truth era, this age-old philosophical question gains unprecedented relevance. Linguists and philosophers have been paying increased attention to it for some time now. Humans know that they can only approach the truth in the process of gaining knowledge; nevertheless, they sanction the conscious deviation from it through cunning, pretense, or lies. Lies disrupt the divine order of the world, violate trust, and abuse language. But can humans live without lies at all? This volume brings together classic philosophical and theological texts from antiquity to the present that present various concepts of lies and demonstrate that there were early undercurrents that found positive aspects in cunning and lies.