Yeah, this correct. Also, I think “I’m fine” generally literally true in the narrow sense, since it’s literally true that, for example, I am not in urgent need of medical attention at this moment.
If I was literally bleeding to death and someone asked my how I was and I said “I’m fine”, people would take that to be a falsehood in some sense. But if I’m physically healthy but emotionally upset, and someone asked me how I was and I said “fine”, people don’t consider that a lie, because it isn’t one, in the narrowest sense; I am “fine” in one sense of the word.
Which is also why it so often becomes the default answer, because it’s almost never a lie, in at least the very narrow “wizard’s rule” sense.
Yeah, this correct. Also, I think “I’m fine” generally literally true in the narrow sense, since it’s literally true that, for example, I am not in urgent need of medical attention at this moment.
If I was literally bleeding to death and someone asked my how I was and I said “I’m fine”, people would take that to be a falsehood in some sense. But if I’m physically healthy but emotionally upset, and someone asked me how I was and I said “fine”, people don’t consider that a lie, because it isn’t one, in the narrowest sense; I am “fine” in one sense of the word.
Which is also why it so often becomes the default answer, because it’s almost never a lie, in at least the very narrow “wizard’s rule” sense.