Noble lie

The noble lie is a political concept originated by Plato in The Republic. Put simply, it is the idea that, if the cultivation of nobility of the soul is the purpose of the state, then it is in fact laudable to lie to the people too dumb to understand the necessity of virtue. Put even more simply, it means that false propaganda for the sake of the public welfare is totally acceptable. It is the immaculately conceived son of Pious fraud and the big lie.

Historically, the concept was used by people who did not believe in the tenets of a certain religion, but used them to rally their followers. More recently, it has been adopted and utilized by a number of neoconservatives, due partially to the influence of Leo Strauss, a scholar of Plato who seriously believed in telling noble lies.