SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-DECEPTION

Abstract

The thesis is that there is a sense to the notion of self- knowledge which stands opposed to that of self-deception, is asymmetrical with knowledge of others, and is not endangered by the Wittgensteinian arguments for the non- cognitive thesis of avowals. A perceptual model of self-knowledge is presented and argued against. The Wittgensteinian arguments for the non-cognitive thesis of avowals (which latter are taken to be paradigmatic expressions of self-knowledge) arc presented and critically examined. A Freudian analysis of self-deception follows from which a sense of self-knowledge is derived which is shown to parallel certain features of the understanding of a work of art. This contradicts the letter, but not the spirit of the Wittgensteinian position.