FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W162384885> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W162384885 startingPage "26" @default.
• W162384885 abstract "Although philosophy and literature have sometimes seemed at odds, they are brought into close proximity when we consider the logical structure of autobiography. Autobiography is often motivated by a desire for self-knowledge or self-justification; it is also a kind of writing notoriously prone to self-deception. The very notion of self-deception, however, is frequently seen to be strangely paradoxical. It is epistemically paradoxical because it seems to require that the very same person believes what he/she does not believe. It is morally paradoxical because it seems to require that, with respect to a particular action, the very same person can on occasion be both blameworthy and innocent. In both areas, in short, self-deception seems to insist that one is a deceiver and deceived at the same time. My objective in this essay is to outline a plausible way of resolving these paradoxes, and in the process to elucidate certain features of the autobiographical activity. Beginning with some concrete examples of deception in autobiography, shall then go on to raise various possible skeptical objections to seeing these as instances of self-deception, including a philosophical skepticism that is motivated by the apparent paradoxicality of the concept of self-deception. In turn, after considering some attempted resolutions of these paradoxes, shall then attempt to develop an alternative approach, one which draws upon insights from cognitive psychology and recent theories of narrative. As a way of further locating my discussion at the crossroads of various disciplines, the autobiographies which shall use as test cases are those of three philosophers who seem to have had a problematic childhood: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Consider first the case of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Toward the end of Book 6 of the Confessions Rousseau gives an account of his decision not to resume his affair with Madame de Larnage (245-47). He adduces various reasons for his action on this occasion: remorse caused by his unfaithfulness to his beloved Maman, Madame de Warens; anxiety about the exposure of his absurd pretence at being an exiled English Jacobite called Dudding, notwithstanding his innocence of the English language; a certain loss of the early vigour of his attachment to Madame de Larnage; a concern about the possibility of her family being hostile to their liaison; and a fanciful fear that he might fall in love with Madame de Larnage's daughter and seduce her (an unlikely event given his self-confessed lack of enterprise in his dealings with the opposite sex). At the end of all this Rousseau decides to break off with Madame de Larnage (with a few sighs admit) and return to Maman. He congratulates himself: I have a right to think well of myself. am capable of putting duty before pleasure (246). On his return from Montpellier to Chambery, however, he discovers himself to have been supplanted in Madame de Warens's affections by a young man called Wintzenried, of whom Jean-Jacques has many unkind things to say in the succeeding pages. Both internal and external evidence show that this account in the Confessions is riddled with falsehood. Correspondence from Rousseau, together with other documents, indicate that he had long ago been supplanted in Maman's affections by Wintzenried and that he was well aware of this. Rather than going back to renew his old life, he was returning to a situation that he already knew to be degrading. In the Confessions, however, he represents his discovery of the affair with Wintzenried as occurring after his return from Montpellier. A hostile critic like Lester Crocker consequently sees this passage as sheer fraud (120). Yet perhaps a more charitable critic like Peter France is closer to the truth when he judges Rousseau as self-deceived (94). My second example is John Stuart Mill's Autobiography. The first paragraph of Mill's work self-depreciatingly states: I do not for a moment imagine that any part of what have to relate, can be interesting to the public as a narrative, or as being connected with myself. …" @default.
• W162384885 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W162384885 creator A5017960933 @default.
• W162384885 date "1996-12-01" @default.
• W162384885 modified "2023-09-24" @default.
• W162384885 title "Autobiography and Self-Deception: Conjoining Philosophy, Literature and Cognitive Psychology" @default.
• W162384885 hasPublicationYear "1996" @default.
• W162384885 type Work @default.
• W162384885 sameAs 162384885 @default.
• W162384885 citedByCount "2" @default.
• W162384885 countsByYear W1623848852020 @default.
• W162384885 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W162384885 hasAuthorship W162384885A5017960933 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C110099512 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C111472728 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C121332964 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C124952713 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C15744967 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C18296254 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C199033989 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C26961564 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C2779267917 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C2780791683 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C41895202 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C520712124 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C62520636 @default.
• W162384885 hasConcept C77805123 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C110099512 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C111472728 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C121332964 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C124952713 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C138885662 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C142362112 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C15744967 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C18296254 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C199033989 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C26961564 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C2779267917 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C2780791683 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C41895202 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C520712124 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C62520636 @default.
• W162384885 hasConceptScore W162384885C77805123 @default.
• W162384885 hasIssue "4" @default.
• W162384885 hasLocation W1623848851 @default.
• W162384885 hasOpenAccess W162384885 @default.
• W162384885 hasPrimaryLocation W1623848851 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W1513594092 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W166995619 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W1894058763 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W1976783403 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W1979839143 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2058103995 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2064169173 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2066437294 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2138696222 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2196632571 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2327557181 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2328763968 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2503822753 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2574924823 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2608842961 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W267353713 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W282438013 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W340580016 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W48708113 @default.
• W162384885 hasRelatedWork W2613614542 @default.
• W162384885 hasVolume "29" @default.
• W162384885 isParatext "false" @default.
• W162384885 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W162384885 magId "162384885" @default.
• W162384885 workType "article" @default.