The Philosophy of Deception

293 Pages·2009·0.907 MB·English

by  Clancy Martin

The Philosophy of Deception
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The Philosophy of Deception
EDITED BY
Clancy Martin
1
2009
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The philosophy of deception / edited by Clancy Martin.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-19-532793-9
1. Deception. 2. Self-deception. 3. Truthfulness and falsehood. I. Martin, Clancy W.
BJ1421.P45 2009
177'.3—dc22 2008038438
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Robert C. Solomon (1942–2007)
beloved teacher, mentor, and friend
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Contents
Contributors, ix
Introduction: The Intersections of Deception
and Self-Deception, 3
Clancy Martin
PART I. THE PRACTICES OF DECEPTION
AND SELF-DECEPTION
1 Self, Deception, and Self-Deception in Philosophy, 15
Robert C. Solomon
2 On Truth, Lies, and Bullshit, 37
Harry Frankfurt
3 Deceit in War and Trade, 49
William Ian Miller
4 On the “Existential Positivity of Our Ability to Be Deceived”, 67
Mark A. Wrathall
5 Self-Deception, Deception, and the Way of the World, 82
David Sherman
6 Duplicity Makes the Man, Or, Can Animals Lie?, 104
Kelly Oliver
7 Lie Catching and Microexpressions, 118
Paul Ekman
PART II. TRUTH, LIES, AND SELF-DECEPTION: THE THEORY
AND THE ETHICS
8 Deception and Trust, 139
Alan Strudler
viii Contents
9 Lying, Deception, and Related Concepts, 153
Thomas L. Carson
10 Deception and the Nature of Truth, 188
Michael P. Lynch
11 The Truth about Kant on Lies, 201
James Edwin Mahon
12 On the Supposed Duty of Truthfulness: Kant on Lying
in Self-Defense, 225
David Sussman
13 User-Friendly Self-Deception: A Traveler’s Manual, 244
Amelie Rorty
14 Have I Unmasked Self-Deception or Am I Self-Deceived?, 260
Alfred R. Mele
Index, 277
Contributors
THOMAS L. CARSON is the author of The Status of Morality (1984),
Value and the Good Life (2000), and Lying and Deception: Theory and
Practice(forthcoming). His many articles have appeared in Philosophy
and Public Affairs,Nous,Philosophy and Phenomenological Research,
and other leading journals. He is professor of philosophy at Loyola
University in Chicago.
PAUL EKMAN is a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation
to facial expressions. He is the author of Telling Lies (2009), Emotions
Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and
Emotional Life (2003), and, with E. L. Rosenberg, What the Face Reveals
(1998), among other books. He is professor emeritus at the University of
California, San Francisco.
HARRY FRANKFURT is the author of the bestselling On Bullshit (2005)
as well as its companion, On Truth (2006), among many other books.
Widely recognized as one of the most infl uential philosophers of his
time, he is currently professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton
University.
MICHAEL P. LYNCH is professor of philosophy at the University of
Connecticut. He is the author of Truth in Context (1998), True to Life
(2004), and Truth as One and Many (forthcoming).
JAMES EDWIN MAHON is associate professor and chair of the Philosophy
Department at Washington and Lee University. He is the author of the
entry “Lying” in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2nd ed.) and the entry
“The Defi nition of Lying and Deception” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
ALFRED R. MELE is William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of
Philosophy at Florida State University. He is the author of Irrationality
(1987), Springs of Action (1992), Autonomous Agents (1995), Self-
deception Unmasked (2001), Motivation and Agency (2003), Free Will and
Luck(2006), and Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will (2009).
ix