Philosophy
In reply to the discussion: Do rights exist? [View all]Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)It is being polite. I am fully capable of rudeness, as my previous post should make obvious, but I generally prefer not to.
Oh, and I am quite familiar with telling the truth. In another thread, I wrote at some length on Augustine of Hippo's views on lying. Basically, he sees lying as being untrue to the person you are speaking to, a view I accept. By that standard, politeness is not lying. Answering "Yes" to "I really like the way my new stylist did my hair. Do you like it?" is not a lie, no matter what your actual opinion may be.
Augustine himself gives a specific example from his own experience: A man and his son were both severely injured when a cart they were riding in overturned. The two of them were taken to different houses where they were treated. The son died. His father, who was obviously also dying, asked Augustine if his son was still alive. Augustine assured him that the son was still alive, even though he knew that the son was already dead, but he felt that telling this untruth was more merciful than telling him the truth. Thus, he was not being untrue to the man when he said something which was not actually true.
And in post #14, you write "Reason does not get you to moral, but immoral." Now, if that means something other than "reason does not make people moral", I'd like to know what it does mean.