Dissimulation as an artifice of prudential knowledge in the ethics-hermeneutics of Baltasar Gracián

Abstract

The present study considers that Baltasar Gracián's Manual Oracle and Art of Prudence falls within the framework of a hermeneutic ethics. Here, prudential knowledge is developed from a dynamic conception of reality and hermeneutical experience as the source of its maxims. This approach is traced from the articulation of aphorisms 98 and 212 of the Oráculo Manual with a fragment of Discourse XXXXVI of Arte de Ingenio. In this context, the artifice of dissimulation stands out as a fundamental part of the operation of the production of phronetic knowledge. From this point of view, dissimulation is not only an aesthetic artifice, but also a political and moral artifice that aims not to remain exposed and vulnerable to the attacks of power. It is maintained that Gracián communicates the art of prudence as a person of practical wisdom should act, so that his inclination is not known, overlapping his intention, misleading, thus decisively compromising, in this process, the reader.