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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The motivation for self-deceptive belief formation should be restricted to a desire to believe that p.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Agents often enter self-deception motivated by a desire that p be false (e.g., 'I want it not to be true that I am ill'), not merely a desire to believe p.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Mele's 'straight' self-deception paradigm cases show that the operative desire is typically desire-that-not-p, which then biases evidence-processing without any independent desire to hold the resulting belief.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Restricting motivation to desire-to-believe-p renders the account unable to explain why the self-deceived person's belief tracks the motivationally charged proposition rather than some arbitrary comfortable alternative.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Davidson's account grounds self-deception in akratic-style partition of the mind, where the motivating state is a full propositional attitude toward the world, not a second-order desire about one's own doxastic states.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If the motivating desire were always a desire to believe p, self-deception would require implausibly sophisticated meta-cognitive awareness of one's own belief-formation processes prior to being deceived.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The phrase 'unwelcome belief' is ambiguous, since a belief itself can be desirable even if its being true is not.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.An agent may want to hold the belief that p (e.g., that the burner was left on) without wanting p to be the case, because holding the belief ensures p will not be true.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Restricting the motivating desire to a desire to believe that p clarifies what twisted and straight self-deception have in common.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.