Philosophy of Self-Deception
Editor: Patrizia Pedrini (University of Florence)
In the last 30 years or so the phenomenon of self-deception has increasingly interested philosophers of mind. Those who have studied it have mainly focused on questions about its conceptual nature, about whether or not it is intentionally brought about by the self-deceiver, about the psychological mechanisms that make it possible, and the biasing role of motivation, in particular desires and emotions, over cognition. However, some may have the impression that what has been mainly explained thus far are its proximal causes, that is, the desires that a certain proposition p be true or various emotions toward the hypothesis that p, and how they implement the self-deceptive belief that p. What is fascinating and disturbing in self-deception, however, is not simply the final causal mechanism of self-deception, but how it fits in a life – What kind of life is the life of one who self-deceives? What is his psychological personality? In other words, we want to know why desires and emotions triggering self-deception manifest themselves in the first place and why they path the way to embracing a falsehood. There seem to be, then, a longer story to tell about self-deception and it is on this psychological story that we wish to draw scholars’ attention.
The aim of the Issue is to gather the best scholars in the field and to animate an up-to-date philosophical discussion so as to offer the readers a comprehensive state-of-the-art debate on the traditional questions discussed by philosophers of self-deception. At the same time, we aspire to reach out psychologists and psychiatrists: their outlooks on the psychological conditions where self-deception surfaces would complete the picture.
Accordingly, we invite scholars to submit papers, focusing on the following aspects:
- What psychological traits are likely to dispose one to self-deception?
- What is the relationship between one’s world view and the liability to self-deception?
- What is the relationship between known psychological conditions (e.g., delirium of omnipotence, anxiety, etc.) and self-deception?
- What should one therapeutically revise of oneself in order to overcome one’s inclination to self-deception?
Furthermore, we invite to submit reviews of recent books (published after 2009), and commentaries of articles and books (also published before 2009) that could be particularly interesting for the topics analysed in this Issue.
Please send a pdf or a document in word format suitable for blind review to:
EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 15th, 2011
PEER-REVIEWING PROCESS: September 15th October 31st, 2011
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: November 2nd 2011
PAPERS FINAL VERSION DUE: Nevember 30th, 2011.
Instructions for authors:
Max. length: 20 pp., 2400 characters with spaces per page
Font: Bodoni 11 – Page Dimension: 15x23 cm
Margins: Sup 3,25 Inf 2,25 Left and Right 1,8
Interline Spacing: Single
Language: English
