Self-Deception and the Limits of Folk Psychology

This article considers the product of self-deception. Many assume, or argue, that the product of self-deception is a belief. I argue against this being a general truth by outlining some of the ways in which the self-deceived can be deeply conflicted, such that there is no fact of the matter concerning what they believe. These situations are not adequately addressed by many accounts of self-deception. Further, I argue that this task requires going beyond our folk psychological classifications. 1 Deeply Conflicted Self-Deceivers and a Sta-tic 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 that starting point to address the various theoretical problems