What do you think?
Rate this book
The Apologetic Implications of Self-Deception
A Conditional Resolution of the Apparent Paradox of Self-Deception
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2011
17 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Greg L. Bahnsen
77 books145 followersGreg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist Christian philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 12, 2020
Deceiver and deceived
I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with this book. It is somewhat tedious, but necessary tediousness to suit the author's purpose.
Philosophers have been perplexed by the phenomenon of self deception, which seems as though it should be logically impossible. How can the same person be both the deceiver and deceived, hiding from himself that which he really believes, and hiding the knowledge of the hiding? Such brain twisters are the stuff of pages and pages of analysis and debate.
Ultimately, the author proffers a coherent account that appears to solve the dilemma. He insists that the self deceived person can be sincere, but that he is nevertheless responsible, for he should see through his own ruse. He avoids the truth by giving attention to what he desires, while refusing to give attention to that which might expose the truth.
Quote: "The self-deceiver has come to a belief which he dreads, cannot face up to, or wishes were otherwise since it brings some unpleasant truth (as he perceives it) before him."
Therefore the reason he does this is to avoid pain or guilt. The author points to the ubiquity of this phenomenon to which all human beings are subject. We fancy ourselves consistently rational and logical while the reality is anything but.
Good food for thought but not a book everyone will enjoy. It's certainly not the easiest read.
I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with this book. It is somewhat tedious, but necessary tediousness to suit the author's purpose.
Philosophers have been perplexed by the phenomenon of self deception, which seems as though it should be logically impossible. How can the same person be both the deceiver and deceived, hiding from himself that which he really believes, and hiding the knowledge of the hiding? Such brain twisters are the stuff of pages and pages of analysis and debate.
Ultimately, the author proffers a coherent account that appears to solve the dilemma. He insists that the self deceived person can be sincere, but that he is nevertheless responsible, for he should see through his own ruse. He avoids the truth by giving attention to what he desires, while refusing to give attention to that which might expose the truth.
Quote: "The self-deceiver has come to a belief which he dreads, cannot face up to, or wishes were otherwise since it brings some unpleasant truth (as he perceives it) before him."
Therefore the reason he does this is to avoid pain or guilt. The author points to the ubiquity of this phenomenon to which all human beings are subject. We fancy ourselves consistently rational and logical while the reality is anything but.
Good food for thought but not a book everyone will enjoy. It's certainly not the easiest read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review