Self deception is the process or fact of misleading ourselves to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid. Self deception, in short, is a way we justify false beliefs to ourselves. There is no doubt that sometimes we are not realistic. Not all of our actions are rational or intentional. Sometimes we avoid reality, we deny the truth, and we fool ourselves. In some cases we may see the world the way we want to, and not the way it is. Self deception raises basic questions about the nature of belief and the relation of belief to thought, desire, and will. Everything about the concept of self deception is controversial among philosophers and psychologists. When philosophers and psychologists discuss self deception, they usually focus on unconscious motivations and intentions. They also tend to think of self deception as a bad thing. When it comes to explaining how self deception works they focus on self interest, prejudice, desire, insecurity, and other psychological factors unconsciously affecting in a negative way the will to believe. An example of this would be that of a parent who believes his/her child is telling the truth even though the objective evidence strongly supports the claim that the child is lying. The parent therefore deceives him or herself into believing the child because the parent desires that the child tell the truth. Some believe that to deceive oneself the self perhaps can be divided into a deceiving and deceived part. Many believe that self deception is logically or psychologically impossible. Some claim that self deception refers to one or more of four restrictions on perception, none of which need to involve the paradox of simultaneously deceiving or being deceived. First, ignorance resulting from necessarily limited capacity to respond to incoming information; second, the psychic numbing that constitutes a reflex response to prolong exposure to facts which would, if confronted each time be ...
