Augustine's exposition of the image of God in Book 15 of On The Trinity (De Trinitate) sheds light on multiple issues that arise in scholarly interpretations of Augustine's account of lying. This essay argues against interpretations that posit a uniform account of lying in Augustine—with the same constitutive features, and insisting both that it is never necessary to tell a lie and that lying is absolutely prohibited. Such interpretations regularly employ intertextual reading strategies that elide distinctions and developments in Augustine's ethics of lying. Instead, I show how looking at texts written prior and subsequent to the texts usually consulted suggests a trajectory in Augustine's thought, beginning with an understanding of lies as morally culpable but potentially necessary, and culminating in a vision of lying as the fundamental evil and the origin of every sin.

中文翻译：

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追溯奥古斯丁的伦理学

奥古斯丁在 On The Trinity (De Trinitate) 第 15 卷中对上帝形象的阐述，阐明了学术界对奥古斯丁撒谎叙述的解释中出现的多个问题。这篇文章反对对奥古斯丁说谎的统一描述的解释——具有相同的构成特征，并坚持从来没有必要说谎，说谎是绝对禁止的。这种解释经常采用互文阅读策略，这些策略忽略了奥古斯丁撒谎伦理学中的区别和发展。相反，我展示了查看通常参考的文本之前和之后编写的文本如何暗示奥古斯丁思想的轨迹，首先是将谎言理解为道德上有罪但可能是必要的，