Apparently - and incredibly - there is a level of discourse where deception is fundamental. In John le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Alec Leamas enacts a massive deception but has himself been fundamentally deceived about the purpose of it. In Poul Anderson's "Among Thieves," the Margrave must let his friend, the Queen, believe for over a year that he does intend to ally their Double Kingdom with Kolresh.
Physically, the Kolresh are white-skinned, orange-haired and handsome but this appearance conceals their snake-like venom. Attacking others, they claim to be under attack and might even believe this - although their psychology has ceased to be human.
Self-deception is the most insidious variety although it has limits. See another James Blish Appreciation post here.
We enjoy futuristic fiction but face mass extinctions in this century.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
If many people persist in believe in evil, foolish, counterproductive ideas, that too is a kind of self deception! One example being how so many STILL believe in socialism, the notion that a gov't can efficiently own and manage the means of production and distribution in an economy.
Sean
Human beings don't have an inner philosopher or scientist. They have an inner lawyer, arguing a case.
One of the very strongest of human psychological drives is to maintain harmony with their social reference group; we evolved in a setting in which to be exiled, to be unpopular, was, virtually without exception, to die miserably without issue.
So the drive to avoid social isolation is irresistibly strong.
Within that social reference group, success involved getting people to believe you. It's vasty easier to get people to believe what you sincerely believe yourself -- this is why deliberate hypocrisy is relatively rare.
Therefore human belief (and in a related capacity, human memory) are almost infinitely malleable. This is the foundation of Foucault's observation that a claim to truth is a claim to power.
My earliest philosophizing, while still at school, was attempted rationalizations of my received beliefs. But I read and inquired more widely than that.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I only wish the defending counsel for free enterprise economics and the limited state could make arguments convincing to those who favor collectivist/socialist schemes!
Sean
Post a Comment