We have a continuum of degrees of deliberation to our actions. Even if I agree that you cannot self-deceive at the strongest degree of deliberation, that isn’t in practice much of a restriction on your ability to self-deceive.
Might seem that way to you because you don’t actually go around all day saying, “And now I shall doublethink myself into believing X!” Deliberate self-deception is a subset of self-deception well worth slicing off the carcass. E.g. Utilitarian from OB.
Just because the boundary of deliberate self-deception is fuzzy, doesn’t mean the boundary is not worth drawing. The more so in this particular case, as if you wonder “Is this a deliberate self-deception that I can’t get away with, or a non-deliberate one that I might still be able to pull off?” it has already reached the point of being deliberate. (Repeating this to yourself will make it even more true.)
We have a continuum of degrees of deliberation to our actions. Even if I agree that you cannot self-deceive at the strongest degree of deliberation, that isn’t in practice much of a restriction on your ability to self-deceive.
Might seem that way to you because you don’t actually go around all day saying, “And now I shall doublethink myself into believing X!” Deliberate self-deception is a subset of self-deception well worth slicing off the carcass. E.g. Utilitarian from OB.
Just because the boundary of deliberate self-deception is fuzzy, doesn’t mean the boundary is not worth drawing. The more so in this particular case, as if you wonder “Is this a deliberate self-deception that I can’t get away with, or a non-deliberate one that I might still be able to pull off?” it has already reached the point of being deliberate. (Repeating this to yourself will make it even more true.)