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Falsehoods are susceptible of a classification which will serve to point out
the extent of their mischievousness & consequent immorality.
Malicious falsehoods are flagitious – they should be avoided for the sake of others.
Interested falsehoods are mean – a man should be avoided them for his own sake.
So falsehoods to excite astonishment, which are, to a certain extent
interested falsehoods, which for his own sake a man should avoid.

Falsehoods of humanity – falsehoods to avoid hurting the self-love of others
or exposing the persons or property of others to injury – as where for instance an assassin is in pursuit of
his intended victim & is misled by a falsehood told him as to the direction his taken by the person
– these may be innocent, and benevolent, – as long as they do not give
cause to suspect a general indifference to veracity. If lavishly employed
this will infallibly be the result – thence the demand of prudence that
the occasion their employment should be most rare.

Falsehoods of necessity such as are & must be used to madmen.
<p>Falsehoods of self-defence – against lawless violence.

Equivocation differs from falsehood & is preferable to
it, inasmuch as it gives the chance that if the equivocator
cannot immediately discover terms sufficiently ambiguous for
equivocation, he will tell the truth.</p>

An equivocation is a falsehood in ideas, not in words.

A lie is a falsehood both in ideas & words.

The having recourse rather to equivocation than a
lie direct, shows a certain regard to truth for though an equivocation
might be preferred to truth – truth may be preferred to a lie.

Truth may be had from a person who deals in equivocations for he
may be caught taken on the a sudden, before he has time to put together an
equivocation.

If a man is known only for an equivocator. it is also known that there is
a method of dealing with him. It is to press him with distinctions upon
the terms of his answers, till you get him to terms not susceptible of ambiguity.
You by this means force him at last to take his chance between simple truth
and downright falsehood.

An equivocator shows gives evidence of a disposition to keep upon terms with truth.

Identifier: | JB/015/295/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	295	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f144
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	5511
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