La mentira nociva según Miguel Catalánuna historia de la seudología y la utilidad de la mentira desde la ética aplicada

Abstract

From some years ago I have been reading -and analyzing- with greatinterest the volumes of the history and forms of lies and deceit from allpossible humanistic aspects that Professor Miguel Catalán has worked sorigorously throughout his life, in order to analyze, lastly, the ethics appliedto social ordering. In the pages published in the volumes of this extensivework I have learned that every great lie needs a small truth to support it(from the first to the last volume of Pseudology confirm this need), I havelearned that there are white lies, which are not precisely the religious ones,that lead to the creativity of better worlds, even through the loser’s tantrumor the marginal protest of from the one who is unheard on the stage, in theplatform; we have seen a beautiful example in the creation of utopia asa political protest and as a literary genre; I have learned that someone istruthful when he is paternal with his children, but that someone enters thepaths of the interested lie when this one is paternalistic with the “adults”whom he tries to deceive and subdue. Through out all these volumes wehave come across religious paternalisms, political paternalisms, economicand public paternalisms, we have studied them forn myths, traditions,dictatorial policies, the most bleeding populisms, covering all the humanisticaspects of man and all the social sciences of both East and West.Today I want to reflect in a little more detail on the harmful lie. PseudologyXI (La mentira nociva, Seudología XI), being the first posthumousbook by Professor Miguel Catalán, although, previously, he had alreadywritten two other volumes that the author wanted to leave as a closure ofthe whole serie of Pseudology. That is why I want to be noted that that, as I write these lines, La Traición, (Pseudology XII) has just been published,the last volume published by Editorial Verbum this year, and the last volumethat will study about the beneficial lie will be published shortly, as wehave learned through his widow, María Picazo, a faithful collaborator inthis immense work. his study pseudologyc will end this wonderful story ofthe humankind, who has won so many awards, and which I have alreadymentioned on other occasions: the Juan Gil-Albert and Alfons El MagnànimEssay Awards, the Juan Andrés Essay and Research Award, as well asthe of the Valencian Criticism. We will have the opportunity to talk about ofthe new volumes in the future, so, as I pointed out I will dedícate this smallestudy to the harmful lie. Pseudology XI.