Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:36:36.611Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What's So Great about Reality?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Julie Kirsch
Julie Kirsch*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, CanadaM5S 1A2
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Life is so wretched that it would be impossible to endure were it not for the luminous beams of illusion that guide us through its darkest moments. Many argue, perhaps not to this degree (or with this much drama), that were it not for some modest illusions about the world and ourselves we would experience a serious decline in quality of life. On those not-so-good days, this claim strikes me as irresistible. How would I endure life and maintain my sanity if I had to embrace each and every disgusting and disheartening fact about the world? Perceiving the world in a way that is neither clear-eyed nor complete may not be without its advantages. But even if being mistaken about the world or self-deceived causes one to be healthier or more comfortable, it is worth asking whether there is something to be said against a life of this kind. Might there not be some knowledge about ourselves or the world that we ought to have?

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , September 2005 , pp. 407 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Baron, Marcia. 1988. ‘What's Wrong with Self-Deception?’ Perspectives on Self-Deception. McLaughlin, Brian P. and Rorty, Amelie Oksenberg eds. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Jonathon D., Brown and Dutton, Keith A.. 1995. ‘Truth and Consequences: The Costs and Benefits of Accurate Self-Knowledge,’ Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21.Google Scholar
Joseph, Butler. 1959. Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel and a Dissertation upon the Nature of Virtue. Matthews, W.R. ed. London: G. Bell & Sons.Google Scholar
Clifford, William Kingdon. 1886. Lectures and Essays. Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock, eds. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Griffin, James. 1986. Well-Being: Its Meaning, Measurement, and Moral Importance. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Hill, Thomas. 1984. ‘Autonomy and Benevolent Lies,’ Journal of Value Inquiry 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1996. The Metaphysics of Marals, Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Gregor, Mary trans. and ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kupfer, Joseph. 1982. ‘The Moral Presumption Against Lying,’ Review of Metaphysics 36.Google Scholar
Martin, Mike. 1986. Self-Deception and Morality. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Mele, Alfred. 2001. Self-Deception Unmasked. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, William Ian. 2003. Faking It. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nozick, Robert. 1968. Anarcy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Shelley E., Taylor 1989. Positive Illusions: Creative Self-Deception and the Healthy Mind. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar