Drake Bennett on the work of Robert Trivers:
> > self-deception. If we don't know we're lying, > > then we won't act like we're lying, and are more > > likely to get away with it." Rick Carlstrom wrote: > > Well then, this hypothesis may be an explanation > of the George W. Bush phenomena. Yes, the GWB phenomenon was what sparked my original exchange with Akasha. It's fascinating to see it at work in politics. However, I certainly don't think self-deception is limited to politicians. It appears to be very relevant in the TMO, for instance. And then we get into the whole "how do I know what I know?" epistemological go-round that has engaged so much of my time at Fairfield Life. Self-deception is an interesting topic as it relates to ideologies. But some people apply it to the larger subject of enlightenment as a whole. Dana Sawyer, who doesn't post here directly but is heard from via Rick Archer, believes that people who say they're enlightened are simply deceiving themselves. As evidence for this position, he cites the utter disagreement about what enlightenment is like from culture to culture. One would think that enlightenment, an ultimate state of self-evident reality, would be described in similar ways across histories and cultures. But no, says Sawyer: all the accounts seem to echo what the culture says they *should* sound like, and those accounts often take polar opposite positions. (The Hindus describe it as fullness, for instance, but the Buddhists describe it as emptiness.) I'm not saying I agree with Dana, and I suppose it's a cheap shot to post his notions here without a knowledgeable explanation and defense. I'm merely pointing out that the topic of self-deception may interest some of the philosophers around here, and Robert Trivers throws another log on the fire. - Patrick Gillam To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
