La diplomatie de l' esprit : éthique et/ou politesse dans la communication.

Our study takes as its point of departure what Marc Fumaroli calls "la diplomatie de l' esprit" ("spiritual diplomacy") when referring to "les civilités" ("civilities") and politeness as understood by 17th century thinkers. We then analyse the relationship among politeness, etiquette and courtesy with a view to emphasising the nature of politeness as a social norm, its systemic character (manifest in its verbal and nonverbal occurrences) and its quality as a mode of communication. Our thesis is supported by the ideas and concepts proposed by Brown & Levinson, Ferguson and Grice, which lead us to the ethical aspect of politeness as revealed by Habermas, who introduces notions such as "the (D)-Principle" and the principle of universalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]