Self and Deception

A Cross-Cultural Philosophical Enquiry

Edited by Roger T. Ames & Wimal Dissanayake

Subjects: Communication
Paperback : 9780791430323, 373 pages, July 1996
Hardcover : 9780791430316, 373 pages, July 1996

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Table of contents

Introduction
Roger T. Ames And Wimal Dissanayake

One
On the Very Possibility of Self-Deception
Brian P. McLaughlin

Two
The Vital but Dangerous Art of Ignoring: Selective Attention and Self-Deception
Annette C. Baier

Three
User-Friendly Self-Deception: A Traveler's Manual
Amélie Oksenberg Rorty

Four
Self, Deception, and Self-Deception in Philosophy
Robert C. Solomon

Five
Bad Faith and Kitsch as Models for Self-Deception
Kathleen Marie Higgins

Six
Unloading The Self-Refutation Charge
Barbara Herrnstein Smith

Seven
Falsity, Psychic Indefiniteness, and Self-Knowledge
Joel J. Kupperman
Eight
A Confucian Perspective on Self-Deception
A. S. Cua

Nine
A Confucian Construction of a Self-Deceivable Self
Robert Cummings Neville

Ten
The Classical Chinese Self and Hypocrisy
Roger T. Ames

Eleven
Our Names Are Legion for We Are Many: On the Academics of Deception
David L. Hall

Twelve
A Half-Dressed Emperor: Societal Self-Deception and Recent "Japanokritik" in America
William R. LaFleur

Thirteen
Facing the Self with Masks: Perspectives on the Personal from Nietzsche and the Japanese
Graham Parkes

Fourteen
Self-Deception: A Comparative Study
Eliot Deutsch
Fifteen
Self-Deception and Cultural Contextualization: Reflections on Two Indian Novels
Wimal Dissanayake

Sixteen
Ritual, Self-Deception, and Make-Believe: A Classical Buddhist Perspective
Richard P. Hayes

Contributors

Index

Distinguished scholars discuss the problem of self-deception, or rather, self and deception.

Description

This volume contains essays by a range of distinguished philosophers on the problem of self-deception, or rather, self and deception. The work proceeds from the assumption that changing constructions of self within Western cultures, and alternative notions of self in other cultures requires that we rethink traditional strategies for explaining the phenomenon of self-deception.

The concept of self is central to any sustained inquiry into self-deception, the pertinent issue being what sort of self is victim (or beneficiary) of self deception. Several of the authors here base their thinking on the model of "other-deception," and include discussion of the notions of double selves, multiple selves, and subsystems of the self, to address this troubling problem. Other authors argue that "other-deception" is not an adequate or reliable model to guide our thinking on this issue.

The psychological and moral dimensions of self-deception generate a rich discussion, as do its epistemic implications. The concept of emotionality also receives sustained attention.

Roger T. Ames is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. In addition to co-editing Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice; Self as Person in Asian Theory and Practice; and Self as Image in Asian Theory and Practice, his major publications include Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (with David L. Hall); Thinking Through Confucius (edited with David L. Hall); Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy (edited with J. Baird Callicott), all published by SUNY Press. He is also the co-editor of the SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Wimal Dissanayake is Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He co-edited, with Thomas P. Kasulis and Roger T. Ames, Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice; Self as Person in Asian Theory and Practice; and Self as Image in Asian Theory and Practice, all published by SUNY Press.

Reviews

"The book is a provocative trailblazer in that it explores the problematic issues of 'self' and 'deception,' and particularly, 'self-deception,' not only from an epistemological perspective but also from cross-cultural dimensions. While the approach is primarily philosophic, the work is pregnant with implications for cognitive science, cultural anthropology, sociology of knowledge, decision-making theory, and even theoretical biology." — Leo Chang, Regis College