In today’s On the Square feature , Janet E. Smith responds to Christopher Tollefsen and Alexander Pruss’ article on lying:
Whereas Tollefsen and Pruss speak of “assertion” I speak of “enunciative signification.” I prefer to use the more cumbersome “enunciative signification” because “assertion” in common parlance refers to speech acts whereas Aquinas (and the Catechism) refers to both words and deeds that attempt to communicate to another about reality.
I believe those who defend some false enunciative signification have an easier time dealing with Scripture than those who condemn all false enunciative signification. Those who maintain that all false enunciative signification is wrong, are faced with the task of explaining a multitude of instances wherein false enunciative signification leads to good and, it seems, approved results.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
