The Self-Deceiving Muse: Notice and Knowledge in the Work of Art (Literature and Philosophy) - Hardcover

Singer, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0271037210 ISBN 13: 9780271037219

Publisher: Penn State University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Current philosophical discussions of self-deception remain steeped in disagreement and controversy. In The Self-Deceiving Muse, Alan Singer proposes a radical revision of our commonplace understanding of self-deception. Singer asserts that self-deception, far from being irrational, is critical to our capacity to be acute "noticers" of our experience. The book demonstrates how self-deception can be both a resource for rational activity generally and, more specifically, a prompt to aesthetic innovation. It thereby provides new insights into the ways in which our imaginative powers bear on art and life. The implications—philosophical, aesthetic, and ethical—of such a proposition indicate the broadly interdisciplinary thrust of this work, which incorporates "readings" of novels, paintings, films, and video art.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Singer is Professor of English at Temple University. His previous books include Aesthetic Reason: Artworks and the Deliberative Ethos (Penn State, 2003).

Edition details

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0271037210
• ISBN 13: 9780271037219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240