
False Consciousness
Denise Meyerson(Author)
Clarendon Press
Published on 30. May 1991
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-0-19-824819-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book is a contribution both to analytical philosophy of mind and to Marxist philosophy. Marxists see pervasive irrationality in the conduct of human affairs, and claim that people in a class-divided society are prone to a variety of misconceptions. They say that we can suffer from `false consciousness' in our views about what inspires our behaviour and in our judgements about what is good for us. Denise Meyerson uses the techniques of analytic philosophy to investigate this picture. She argues that Marxism is committed to the idea of motivated belief, and that the idea is philosophically defensible. She shows that there are other philosophically defensible claims which are congenial to Marxism: that there are facts about interests that are not based on wants; that a desire can be contaminated by its history; that our judgements about our interests do not automatically motivate us; and that beliefs can survive the evidence that they are false. In doing so she throws light on certain puzzling psychological phenomena which confront everyone in their everyday political experience.
Reviews / Votes
`Meyerson's book shows the analytical approach's virtues. Her discussion is always serious, lively and lucid'Michael Rosen, Times Literary Supplement 'The merit of the book lies in the detailed and intricate argument ... Meyerson brings a sharp, critical intelligence to her task, and is often persuasive.'
Vincent Geoghegan, The Queen's University of Belfast, Political Studies, Volume XL, number 1, 1992 `The merit of the book lies in the detailed and intricate argument ... Meyerson brings a sharp, critical intelligence to her task, and is often persuasive.'
Political Studies
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
tables
Dimensions
Height: 225 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
402 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-824819-4 (9780198248194)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Author
Senior Lecturer in PhilosophySenior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cape Town
Content
Introduction; Primary and secondary; Mistakes about motives and motivated mistakes; Unhappy desires; Rogue desires; Recidivist beliefs and desires; Conclusion; References; Index