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32. Thus, Pascal, Pensée 78: “Our own interest is [a] wonderful instrument for blinding us agreeably. The fairest man in the world is not allowed to be judge in his own case. I know of men who, to avoid the danger of partiality in their own favor, have leaned over to the opposite extreme of injustice. The surest way to lose a perfectly just case was to get close relatives to recommend it to them.”

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51. For a fuller discussion, see J. Elster, Alchemies of the Mind (forthcoming).

52. This phrase by Madison (from The Federalist, No. 42) is also the title of a book by Bessette, J. (1934).Google Scholar

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58. I am assuming here lhat punishment takes a material form such as voting someone out of office rather than shame-inducing behavior. The shame case is discussed below.

59. There is no reason to go to a higher-order argument and assume lhat B might expect a purely self-interested C to punish him because if he doesn't one of D, E … will punish C for not punishing B. As the transaction between A and B takes place in full view of all oilier members of society, B knows that he will be punished by someone for not punishing A.

60. This argument has a rough resemblance with that offered in Kreps, D.M. et al. , Rational Cooperation in thf Finitely Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, 27 J. Econ. Theory 245–52 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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73. For a brilliant discussion of this predicament, see Perelman, & Tyteca, Olbrechts, supra note 56, at 96.Google Scholar

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78. Id. at 532.

79. Id. at 531.

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81. Id. at 213.

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83. In some cases, though, predictions about one's own future behavior may be uttered as genuine warnings. See Frank, R., Passions Within Reason 55 passim (1988).Google Scholar

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85. We may note at this point the possibility of self-fulfilling warnings, which are, in this respect, intermediate between ordinary warnings and threats. By publicly telling the French king that his troops were unreliable, Mirabeau may in fact have ensured the truth of that statement

86. Thus, upon the announcement on July 2, 1938, of the arrival of a British emissary, “Hitler started up and said: ‘Gott im Himmel! Don't let him in yet I'm still in a good humor.’ He then proceeded, in front of his staff, to work himself up until his face darkened, he was breathing heavily, and his eyes were glazed.” Bullock, A., Hitler and Stalin 571 (1991).Google Scholar

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92. A passage from W. Somerset Maugham that I have been unable to trace is apt here: “Hypocrisy is the most difficult vice to pursue. It cannot be practiced at spare moments: It's a full-time occupation.”

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