Astuteness, Trickery, Fraud

Astuteness, Trickery and Fraud.—The prudence whose means are bad is the sin of those who skillfully plan and carry out wicked ways and methods of securing some desired end, even though it be a good end.

(a) The planning of wicked means through which some design can be successfully achieved is the sin of astuteness, and the persons who are well-fitted for such things are known as schemers and plotters. The counsel of the Jews against Christ (Matt., xxvi. 3-5) and the bribery of the sepulchre guards (Matt., xxviii. 12-14) are examples of astuteness.

(b) The carrying out of astute plans may be done either by violence or by stealth; but, as evil loves to hide itself and to pose as good lest its success be endangered, schemers usually resort to trickery and fraud. Lord Bacon’s essay on “Dissimulation” is a good description of the method of worldly policy.

Trickery in general is the secret employment of sinful means with the view to impose on others and thus gain some advantage one has in mind. Hence, it has a wide application and includes fraud as well as other uses of unlawful means. But trickery may be distinguished from fraud as follows:

(a) trickery is the execution of an astute plan by words calculated to deceive or circumvent another person. Words are the chief means of communication between men, and hence trickery is more usual than fraud. Examples of trickery are the artful traps prepared for Our Lord by the Pharisees when with apparent respect they asked His views about the condemnation of the adulteress (John, viii. 3 sqq.) and the payment of tribute (Matt., xxii. 17), their purpose being to obtain evidence that He spoke against the Law;

(b) fraud is the execution of astute plans by means of dishonest actions, as when a person cheats by not observing the rules of a game, or defrauds by selling inferior goods, or imposes on others by passing himself off as their friend, etc.

Trickery may be used for good as well as evil ends, and thus St. Paul disowns the practice of persuading men to embrace the Faith by appealing to their prejudices or by toning down the Gospel: “We renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s consciousness in the sight of God” (II Cor., iv. 2).

The gravity of the sins of astuteness, trickery and fraud depends on the character of the object, end and circumstances. (a) Thus, on account of the object the sin is grave when the means chosen are very bad (e.g., serious calumnies), venial when the means are slightly evil (e.g., lies about unimportant matters); (b) on account of the end the sin is mortal when one intends to perpetrate a serious offense (e.g., clever ruses to get into a house in order to rob it), venial when the purpose is not so bad (e.g., cheating at cards in order to win a small sum); (c) on account of the circumstances the sin is made mortal by some grave defect or disorder in the act resulting from the condition of time, place, person, etc. Thus, there might easily be great scandal if a person of authority were known to lie habitually, as it suited his interests.

St. Thomas, II-II, q. 55.

41. False prudence is a sin opposed to prudence by excess. There are various species of it: for there can be 1. abuse of prudence itself a) concerning a false end, through prudence of the flesh, b) concerning false means, through cunning, or the devising and knowledge of false means, c) concerning the execution of false means, through deceit in words and fraud in deeds; 2. abuse of solicitude, through excessive solicitude.

42. Prudence of the flesh is concerned with the end (voorzichtigheid des vleesches of der wereld, wereldswijsheid, Lk. XVI, 8) and is the excess or abuse of prudence itself strictly so called; it devises and dictates suitable means to an evil end, namely for accomplishing the works of the flesh or fulfilling the instinct of corrupt nature (Rom. VIII, 5-7; Gal. V, 16). Whence it is skill in finding and employing ways for doing evil. Since it is found in every sin, just as true prudence is found in every virtue, hence it is not a sin distinct from the evil work itself, unless it is directly and in itself voluntary, precisely insofar as it is opposed to prudence.

It is a mortal sin if someone sets up an evil end for himself as the ultimate end or the end of the whole life: for by that very fact he is turned away from the true ultimate end, God; as if it proceeds from a mortally evil affection, or someone on that account is prepared to sin mortally, for example if he preferred a temporal good to the eternal good of the soul. But if someone proposes a particular evil end for himself without being turned away from the ultimate end, it is a venial sin, for example if he were to employ effort for pleasure alone.

1. Hence false prudence does not necessarily judge erroneously by speculative error, because the means can be truly suitable to the end, and it does not necessarily judge that they are absolutely good, but that they are suitable for us to the end proposed. But it is practically false, because it is the cause of evil election: for it is not conformed to right appetite, but conformed to dishonorable affection.

2. The works of the flesh in the present place are understood not in the strict theological sense, but in the more general sense of the Apostle concerning all works of corrupt nature; these are of three kinds according to the threefold perverse concupiscence. Whence prudence of the flesh can be distinguished as threefold: earthly, animal or strictly carnal, and diabolical, according as it tends to temporal goods, to pleasure, or to pride (hebzuchtige, vleeschelijke of dierlijke, eerzuchtige v.).

43. There are various species concerning the means:

a) cunning (listigheid, arglistigheid, sluwheid, doorslepenheid), which is excess or abuse in counsel (and judgment); this devises for an end, whether good or evil, means not true but false, simulated, or apparent. Namely, it is skill in devising ways not true but simulated, for attaining an end, whether good or evil. It is sin because even to a good end one must not arrive by false ways but by true ones; mortal if it proceeds from a mortally evil affection, or inflicts grave harm (II Cor. IV, 2);

b) deceit, and c) fraud (bedriegerij, bedrog in woord en daad), which are nothing but the external act and execution of cunning: deceit principally through false words, which hold the principal place among signs; fraud through false deeds.

44. Excessive or immoderate solicitude (overdreven bezorgdheid) can be: either of temporal things, namely an excessive occupation of the mind in acquiring or conserving temporal things; or of future things, namely an excessive occupation of the mind concerning future things, especially things necessary for life, with anxiety and little confidence in divine providence. In three ways it can be illicit: a) if we seek temporal things as the ultimate end, by preferring them to spiritual things, which is mortal; b) if superfluous effort is employed for acquiring or conserving temporal things, so that we are withdrawn from due spiritual things: this is mortal if it withdraws from spiritual things prescribed under grave obligation; otherwise it is venial; c) if there is only superfluous fear, namely lest, by doing what must be done, necessary things fail us: this is venial, unless per accidens it were the effect or cause of mortal sin.

1. For a work of virtue, among other circumstances, due time also is required, and this also has place in interior solicitude. Thus if in the time of summer someone were already solicitous about the grape harvest, he would be superfluously solicitous (St. Thomas, q. 55, a. 7).

45. The cause of false prudence. - The species of false prudence arise especially from avarice, which is most of all opposed to the virtue of justice, in which the use of right reason chiefly shines forth. Thus, for example, excessive solicitude arises from the inordinate love of having or fear of losing.

CRAFTINESS is the devising of means which, toward some end, whether good or evil, are such that they indeed appear good, but are in reality false and feigned. Thus it is gathered from the Philosopher lib. 1. Magn. Moral. cap. 33. and lib. 6. Eth. cap. 12. and St. Thomas art. 3. See Tanner disp. 3. quaest. 1. dub. 4. It is often called Prudence Proverb. 1. yet it is a vice¹, as is said 2. Corinth. 4. Not walking in craftiness. For the crafty and the dissemblers provoke the anger of God, whether for hidden iniquity or for open simulation; as St. Bernard says, de ordine vitae, finem versus. It usually attacks the weaker and the less discerning; thus the Devil, before the Master of Craftiness, in the serpent, the most cunning of Animals, deceived not the man but the woman, endowed indeed with less discretion, by feigned speech. ¹ N. Editor's note: the print reads 'Proptie tamen est vitium' (OCR 'ptie'), likely a misprint for 'Proprie'; rendered as 'nevertheless it is a vice'. The print also has the clause 'sicuti Prudentia in malo sensu saepe accipitur', omitted in the first transcription and restored in the Latin.

WHEREFORE St. Gregory says, lib. 9. moral. cap. 17. Two things are to be feared in good works, sloth, and deceit. Sloth is caused by lesser love of God; Craftiness is caused by greater love of self, the latter, proceeding from private love of self, issues outwardly in the circumvention of one's neighbor, simulating one thing in deeds while putting forward another in words, or the contrary.

MANY examples of Craftiness from the Sacred Letters the Saintly Doctor records in Bibliis pauperum, cap. 54. as when Laban was searching the household goods of Jacob, and came to the tent of Rachel, she, by feigning the custom of women, craftily deluded him Genes. 31.

SO the Gabaonites, knowing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Hai, cunningly plotted how they might so act as not to be utterly destroyed Ios. 9.

SO Absalom, coveting the kingdom of his Father, maliciously began to flatter the people, cunningly boasting that he would judge with all equity 2. Reg. 15.

TO these add in the New Testament the Craftiness of Herod, wishing to learn the time of the star Matth. 2. so that coming he might rather kill than adore, though he cunningly simulated the latter; thus also the Pharisees, often seeking to catch the Lord in his speech, now sent disciples to him, simulators of Justice, now brought a woman taken in adultery; and many other things, which see in the place cited above.

Deceit is, when one thing is done and another feigned, as St. Bonaventure says on that passage of John 1. In which there is no deceit. To be deceitful is said to be to have two hearts, as the Psalmist says: They spoke in heart, and heart.

Deceit is also a kind of execution of Craftiness, now by words, according to Psal. 5. With their tongues they dealt deceitfully; now by deeds, according to Psal. 105. That they might work deceit against his servants. For Craftiness meditates deceits, as is said Psal. 37. and Eccles. 19.

It can be, either expressed outwardly in speech, as when one contracting betrothal calls himself Peter, though he is called John; or it can be hidden, as when one speaks in such a way as one who simply consents. Thus St. Bonaventure in 4. dist. 17. dub. 2. literal reading.

It is defined by St. Bonaventure in Comp. term. Theol. It is a will deceiving the expectation of one's neighbor for earthly gain.

It is divided, 1. p. Coenil. sect. 8. according to the variety of objects; whence habits are known through acts.

Fraud is the execution of Craftiness, but precisely through deeds, and also through words (says St. Bonaventure ad 1. Ioan. in the place cited). It is a mortal or venial sin according to the subject matter, as Cajetan notes under the word Fraus, Valencia quaest. 5. puncto 2.

It therefore differs from deceit in this, that deceit is either through words or through deeds; while this executes craftiness more through deeds, as Tanner notes with St. Bonaventure there.