Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious MindDeceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. We have been talking, writing and singing about deception ever since Eve told God, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from King Lear to Little Red Riding Hood, retaining a grip on our imaginations despite endless repetition. These tales of deception are so enthralling because they speak to something fundamental in the human condition. The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of all human relationships, even the most central: our relationships with our very own selves. |
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... aware of the full meaning of what we say is a hangover from the antiquated, Cartesian view that the mind is transparent. These considerations open an extremely important, but all too often neglected, aspect of human interaction ...
... aware of the centrality of such wordplay for human speech. When George Steiner linked “poetic vision” with “the linguistic capacity to conceal” in the quotation at the beginning of this preface, he was right. The fourth, and by far the ...
... aware that there is something antisocial about too much honesty. This dilemma has often been portrayed in literature and film, from Dostoevsky's Prince Mishkin, whose innocence and honesty destroy the lives of those around him, to the ...
... aware of their deceptions. People who lie without knowing that they are lying are thought to be at best confused and at worst insane. Evolutionary psychology opposes this cozy mythology. Lying is not exceptional; it is normal, and more ...
... aware of everything going on in our heads. He also asserted that we simply cannot be mistaken about what goes on in our inner world: each of us is the sole, infallible, and unimpeachable authority on our mental states. If this is true ...
Contents
9 | |
29 | |
The Evolution of Machiavelli | 50 |
The Architecture of the Machiavellian Mind | 79 |
Social Poker | 104 |
Hot Gossip | 122 |
Machiavelli on the Couch | 148 |
Conspiratorial Whispers and Covert Operations | 168 |
Descartess Demon | 195 |
Index | 233 |
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Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind David Livingstone Smith No preview available - 2004 |