3 ms·

For some reason I tend not to trust people who advocate lying.

• mdp2021 4y ago
  And you would be very right, but the "article" (more like stubby notes) presents examples and > Julius Caesar, who pretended to have more faith in his troops than he really had to prevent their fearing a superior German force; St Francis of Assisi, whose deception stopped hunters from killing a rabbit; a nameless, unlearned shepherd boy who downplayed his own cleverness to trick an educated judge; and Pontano’s own mother, who feigned not being proud of his accomplishments to make him strive for greater excellence may well not be lying, depending on how the actor manages it. There are ways to do it properly, and without degrading one into lying. In fact, the latter reminds me of a fatherly exchange: "How were you rated?" // "The maximum." // "You could have done better." If the treatise in topic is the "De Prudentia" - the author of those note criminally omits that -, that the topic be /prudence/ should clarify the perspective. Also, Pontano was another of those who believed in the social structure as a "perfect" mechanism ("they would never do that"; "this would never happen") and got burnt by the experience of reality. Those treaties reflect that - that you have to deal with real, imperfect humans; that situations have to be managed.