Les dis/simulations : manières d'approcher autrui. Quelques repères

Résumé (en anglais)

After briefly recalling the history of the two terms « simulation » and « dissimulation », which are nothing but two faces of lie, the author discusses how they are used by the speaker in his/her interpersonal or socioprofessional relationships. Then, it clarifies two types of discourse, one meant for manipulation, the other showing what the first tries to hide. The differences between their attitude and the figure of speech they use (indirect forms: understatement, irony, euphemism, etc.) are then highlighted both in literature and in advertising. Besides this, the author attempts to prove that nobody deceives us better than ourselves. To this effect, she examines the darkest side of our privacy, the one where self acts as a seducer-predator whose resources (rationalization, entertainment, idealization, etc) are able to trap our consciousness thus making us live, despite ourselves, only at the level of a false self construct.