Acting

To 'act' has a variety of meanings in common discourse, three of which are sharply distinguished from one another. It can be synonymous with 'deliberately behave', with 'portray', or, with 'deceive', and the commonality of all three usages makes it difficult to determine whether one is more fundamental than the others, or if 'act' entails all their distinctions, especially that between truth and falsity. Some analytical clarity can be gained by considering another synonym, perhaps the most etymologically literal of them all, namely, to 'actualize'. So, in terms of the latter, to 'deliberately behave' is to make real some intention, to 'portray' is to delberately behave in order to communicate, and to 'deceive' is to portray in order to induce someone to do something under false pretenses. Thus, from this perspective, the differentiae are extrinsic and teleological, and, hence, so too, are any connotations of truth or falsity that are attached to the concept 'acting'.