Social Theory and Practice articles

Recent articles from Social Theory and Practice

Why Brian Barry should be a multiculturalist: contractualism, identity, and impartiality.(Critical essay)
April 1, 2009... Brian Barry is one of the most vociferous critics of multiculturalism. In this paper, I argue that Barry, given the commitments that underlie his own theory of justice as impartiality, should be far more receptive to claims for cultural accommodation. In fact, Barry's justice as impartiality...

Self-deception and the limits of folk psychology.(Report)
January 1, 2009... 1. Deeply Conflicted Self-Deceivers and a Static Problem It would be nice if theorists interested in self-deception could start with an agreed-upon understanding of the phenomenon--what it even means to be self-deceived and what are some of its paradigm examples--and then proceed from...

Maladies of fantasy and depth.(Essay)
January 1, 2009... As conscious beings, we are confronted with what we might call the problem of self-understanding. Self-understanding is a problem for us because we generally want it, and cannot always (if ever) be sure that we have it. We recognize that we may be "strangers" to ourselves--subtly or...

Happily self-deceived.(Report)
January 1, 2009... Classical conceptions of self-deception are rooted in general perspectives on human nature. For example, writing in 1630 within a Christian world view, the Reverend Daniel Dyke understands self-deceit as rebellion against God, and in 1726 Bishop Joseph Butler condemns it as self-partiality...

The essential instability of self-deception.(Report)
January 1, 2009... Two apparent paradoxes lie at the heart of discussion of self-deception, one focusing on belief, the other on intention. The belief paradox concerns how the self-deceived can combine the belief that p and the belief that not-p. The intention paradox concerns how the self-deceived can intend...