Self-Deception and Morality - Hardcover

Martin, Mike W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700602976 ISBN 13: 9780700602971

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 1986

Synopsis

This book systematically explores the moral issues surrounding self-deception. While many articles and books have been written on the concept of self-deception in recent years, Martin's gives much greater emphasis to self-deception as a significant topic for both ethical theory and applied ethics.

"Self-deception is . . . perplexing from a moral point of view. It seems tailor-made to camouflage and foster immorality. . . . Does all self-deception involve some guilt, and is it among the most abhorrent evils. as some moralists and theologians have charged? Or is it only wrong sometimes, such as when it has bad consequences? Could it on occasion be permissible or even desirable to deceive ourselves, just as we are sometimes justified in deceiving other people? Are self-deceivers perhaps more like innocent victims than perpetrators of deceit, and as such deserving of compassion and help? Or, paradoxically, are they best viewed with ambivalence: culpable as deceivers and simultaneously innocent as victims of deception?" (from the introduction)

Martin develops a conception of self-deception as the purposeful evasion of acknowledging to oneself truths or one's view of truth. He details a systematic framework for understanding the main moral perspectives and traditions concerning self-deception that have emerged in western philosophy. In so doing, he clarifies related concepts like sincerity, authenticity, honesty, hypocrisy, weakness of will, and self-understanding. Ranging across traditions both philosophical (Kant, Kierkegaard, and Sartre) and non-philosophical (Freud, Eugene O'Neill, and Henrik Ibsen), Martin shows why self-deception is as morally complex as any other major form of behavior.

The appeal of this book is broad. The volume will challenge professional philosophers and psychologists, yet it is organized and written to be accessible to students in courses on ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of literature. Martin's numerous literary examples should also interest literary critics.

About this title

About the Author

Mike W. Martin, professor of philosophy at Chapman University, is author or editor of Self-Deception and Self-Understanding: New Essays in Philosophy and Psychology, Virtuous Giving: Philanthropy, Voluntary Service, and Caring, and Love's Virtures.

From the Back Cover

"This is by far the most comprehensive and widely rewarding book now available on self-deception. A really substantial and systematic but readable book like this has been needed for too long."--John King-Farlow, editor, Canadian Journal of Philosophy

"It is no small achievement to have reduced the best material on this subject to some order: to the four traditions--inner hypocrisy, authenticity, moral ambiguity, and vital lie."--Edmund Pincoffs, author of The Rationale of Legal Punishment

"This book is a major contribution to the literature of self-deception. It contains a distinctive view of what constitutes self-deception, and it explores moral issues raised by self-deception in more depth than any existing work. The literary references are plentiful and well selected. The book is a pleasure to read."--Robert Audi, University of Nebraska

Reviews

Everyone since Socrates has worried about self-deception. But it remains a paradox. If you know that you are deceived by yourself, then you have seen through the deception. If you don't know, then how can it be you who is doing it? Martin acknowledges Herbert Fingarette's suggestion in Self-Deception (Humanities, 1969) that each of us is more like a community of selves than a single self; but he prefers the idea that we adopt strategies to evade the self-acknowledgment on which the paradox hangs. His interest is moral and he makes a good case against modern apostles of the "Noble Lie," insisting upon the moral importance of rationality and truth. Philosophers will like the argument and ordinary readers will enjoy Martin's wit, his real-life examples, and his excerpts from literature. Leslie Armour, Philosophy Dept., Univ. of Ottawa, Canada
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700602976
• ISBN 13: 9780700602971
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192