White lies, polite lies [ Reading & Writing / Communication ]
… harmlessness was doubted already long before the eighteenth century. In his De Mendacio , St Augustine condemned all kinds of lies, although he accepted that there were exceptions: he excluded ‘jocose lies’ that are self-evident and … deceive from his list of lies. White lies, however, are arguably meant to deceive, if for seemingly good reasons. These kinds of lies are encompassed in Augustine’s fifth type, that ‘which is told from a desire to please others in smooth discourse,’ and, as all kinds of lies involving deception, to be avoided, Augustine concluded. 2 1 . ‘White lie’, Oxford English Dictionnary, …
Conversation | Falsehood | Lies | Politeness
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