What is the Role of the Self in Self-Deception?

The orthodox account holds that the ordinary idea of self-deception is that of deception by the self. This paper explores the idea that it is rather deception (i.e. mistake) about the self. The contention is that mistake of this kind is a necessary condition on self-deception; self-deception thus essentially involves a lack of self-knowledge. The orthodox account can then be seen as stemming from an attempt to explain how such a lack of knowledge is possible. It is suggested that this is the role it has had in much of the Christian literature.