Department of Psychology
University of Alberta
January 2009
* * *
Course: Psychology 436 X5
Title: Self-estrangement
Date/time: Thursday 18:30 - 21:20
Place: Bio-Sci Bldg., BSP 226
Instructor: Dr. Leendert (Leo) P. Mos
Office: Bio-Sci. Bldg. P319H
Office hours: by appt.
Tel.: 492-5264 (O) 436-1539 (H)
E-mail: lmos@ualberta.ca
Website: http://ualberta.ca/~lmos/
____________________________________________________________________________________
Teaching Assistant: Ms. Ruxandra Comanaru, MA (Cand), Office Bio-Sci. P319K, Office hours: Mon
1:30-2:30; e-mail: comanaru@ualberta.ca
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Textbooks:
Fingarette, H. (2000/1969). Self-deception. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (ISBN 0520-22052-8 alk. paper; about $20.00)
Reference textbooks:
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, (ISBN 0-521-42949-8; alk. paper; about $30.00) [See also Taylor’s The ethics of
ambiguity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992 (in Canada under the title The malaise of
modernity. CBC Massey Lecture Series. Toronto: Anansi, 1991.) See also Taylor’s Varieties of religion
today: William James revisited. Harvard, 2002]
Taylor, C. (2004). Modern social imaginaries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Course overview:
“What view you take is everything, and your view is in your power. Remove it then when you choose, and
then, as you had rounded the cape, come calm serenity, a waveless bay.” Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
(121-180 CE)
“As is the water-dish, so is the soul; as is the ray which falls on the water, so are appearances. When then
the water is moved the ray too seems to be moved, yet is not. And when, accordingly, a person is giddy, it is
not the arts and the virtues which are thrown into confusion, but the spirit to which they belong; and when
the person is recovered so are they.” Discourses, Epictetus (55-135 CE)
Whereas the title of this course is self-estrangement and therefore may be expected to concern
itself with (conceptions of) the self, I expect to address this broad topic (of the person) in social-political
theory as a psychologist with a concern for self-deception. That we are able to deceive ourselves is nothing
short of a challenge to a coherent and unified conception of ourselves - our identity - as rational beings.
Moreover, the capacity to deceive ourselves is in a sense to be estranged from ourselves and, I will argue,
others, and so we may expect to come full circle to the topic of self-estrangement. In any case, nothing
much is lost in the transition from the self to self-deception although historically the topic of the self has
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
2
greater philosophical scope - saying something about our human nature - whereas the topic of selfdeception is merely one among many capacities of our human nature. Furthermore, the topic of selfdeception will allow us to roam widely throughout the discipline of psychology and, as we will eventually
reach to topic of the self, beyond psychology to include the other human sciences, and history.
The textbook I have selected, Self-deception, is by Herbert Fingarette, a philosopher of psychology
(of mind and society) at the University of California, and the author of numerous other philosophicalpsychological works (see recommended readings, below), notably on such topics as addiction and insanity.
Originally published in 1969, this book has been out of print for the past twenty years of so. Fortunately, it
was recently re-issued (2000) in a new paperback edition with an updated chapter. In my view this book
was “ahead of its time”; a classic already when first published, and the new edition will be an outstanding
addition to your personal library. The first part of my lectures will constitute an extended expository reading
of Fingarette’s book. It is unusual for me to lecture directly from a text, and I will not do so now. Rather we
will read the text in class together, I aloud and you silently. It is my intention that you master Fingarette’s
phenomenological-hermeneutical perspective in a manner that will allow you to find yourself “at home” in
it. The seemingly paradoxical capacity we possess for deceiving ourselves (and so to be estranged from
ourselves) culminates in an argument for an understanding of the self as a narrative achievement of
communal linguistic-cultural practices and, hence, will allude to all those disciplines that rely in their
investigations on an understanding of human nature. Therefore, self-deception is not only a topic of
psychology but one that has implications for all the human sciences in their quest for an understanding of
the nature of persons. It should not be surprising therefore that in our expository reading of the text I will
allude to a large body of writings in psychology, philosophy, political and social theory, and religious and
literary studies. Many of these are available in the recommended readings listed below.
In previous years, since first teaching this course, I used Sources of the self: the making of the
modern identity by Charles Taylor, Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and probably the foremost
scholar on the human sciences in this country. Regrettably, this book proved both difficult and lengthy.
Taylor has long been a trenchant expositor of modernity, and is well known for his attacks on individualism
and the resulting flattening and narrowing of human life, the perils of instrumental reason and its associated
technologies/sciences, and the consequences of both these for political freedom. But Taylor is neither a
pessimist nor a post-modernist (these are not necessarily equivalent!) and his view on the malaise of
modernity is its loss of the imagination. But what has been lost can always be retrieved and our textbook
may be viewed in party as consistent with Taylor’s project of retrieval (of the past). Taylor argues that
modernity has characteristically endowed human agency with a strong sense of self, but that we have
become deeply confused about this feature of our self-understanding. We have come to think of the self
analogously to having an arm or, more respectably, a brain; that is, as something that exists independently
of the language we use to talk about it. Instead, Taylor argues that the self is a space bounded by moral
horizons which we are continually testing as to what is worth doing or being (or just “what matters”). Thus,
the self is for Taylor always something that is in question - always something becoming. The book, Sources
of the self, is a historical account of what we understand to be a human agent - having a sense of
inwardness, freedom, responsibility, and individuality. Yet Taylor is also very cautious about the tendency
to think about the self as something inside (subjectivism), as merely the affirmation of ordinary life (and the
denial of moral sources outside the putatively unproblematic and inarticulate self). Taylor is not one of
those who bemoans contemporary value-relativism or condemns such relativism as merely a self-indulgent
way to conveniently render immune from criticism any conceivable life-style. Instead, Taylor’s work of
retrieval is to recover the moral sources that characterize modernity in an effort to affirm the quest for
authentic self-development.
The second half of my lectures consists in a story that is not readily accessible in one place although the first five chapters of Taylor’s book are a big part of that story - and certainly not in the
discipline of psychology. But it is a story that is thoroughly psychological with implications for human
development and growth in all its social and cultural diversity. As such my story is one that takes seriously
the historical reality of all human experiences and practices, and importantly, the social-cultural reality of
the self. The second half of my lectures is inspired by the writings of the philosopher Friedrich Hegel and
the historian Wilhelm Dilthey, both 19th c. thinkers who have deeply influenced our 20th c. conception of the
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
3
transition between modern and post-modern thought about culture, society, and identity. These lectures will
treat Soren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre in considerably more depth than Fingarette does, and then go
on to some contemporary considerations on the self in the writings of Heinz Kohut (an object-relations and
self theorist), Jacques Lacan, Immanuel Levinas (a philosopher of “otherness”- alterity), and Kazimier
Dabrowski, a psychiatrist of the “inner psychic milieu”. Regrettably we may not be able to cover all these in
depth.
As a senior undergraduate course, I expect that you will take this as an opportunity to reflect upon
and integrate your previous learning and living. Since Fingarette’s text and my story have something to say
about historically situated persons, our concern is with a form of inquiry that is unavoidable interpretative,
“hermeneutical” and blatantly practical. As such this course stands in stark contrast to the currently
fashionable biological and cognitive orientations in the discipline, and also to a conception of psychology
as an autonomous discipline - independent of the other human sciences. Whatever psychology may have to
say about the self, this cannot be irrelevant for the other human sciences on risk that what it has to say may
itself become irrelevant. Moreover, interpretative inquiry is resolutely dependent on our linguistic practices
- the manner in which we choose to articulate our self-understanding and our understanding of others - and
so, bring that understanding to discursive formulation.
As you may anticipate our discussion of the self, of our capacity to deceive ourselves, inevitable
raises issues concerning the genesis and formation of the self, our personal identity, our understanding of
others, and the possibility of not being ourselves, of being estranged from ourselves in not being ourselves,
of being beside ourselves. Therefore, your participation in reflecting on the content of my lectures, on your
readings, and on your past learning and experience, is essential to your appreciation of this course. So if my
exposition and arguments (both in reading our text and in my subsequent lectures) pertaining to the self are
necessarily intellectually demanding, they are more broadly personally demanding insofar as they require
that you grow in an understanding of yourself. Importantly, it requires that you are willing and prepared to
do so. I firmly believe that our scientific understanding in the human sciences, including psychology, is
continuous with our self-understanding, and that all our systematic inquiry as articulated in our scientific
theories and explanations must eventually be understood - “lived” - if these theories are to morally enhance
our individual and communal life. In any case, my lectures aim less to inform, instruct, or persuade than to
move you to thought.
“What is to prevent one from telling the truth as one laughs?” Art of Poetry, Horace (65-8 BCE)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Course requirements:
1. First term paper (about 12-15 pages, about 250 word/page) giving (a) a synoptic exposition or overview
of Fingarette’s arguments in chapter 1-4 and (b) an exposition of Fingarette’s hermeneutical position.
Clearly, this paper will only list one reference, namely the text. You should note that I will not yet have
covered all this material from the text in class by the time the paper is due. (Due date is Feb. 26, after
reading week, worth 50%.
2. Second term paper (about 12-15 pages, about 250 words/page) dealing with the topic of selfdeception/self-estrangement as presented in one of the readings/novels listed below, or any other novel you
may have already read, or using yourself as a case study. In this paper I expect that you will use the
concepts/ideas developed in (a) the lectures, (b) Fingarette chapters 1-4, and (c) Fingarette chapters 5-7 to
understand what you take to be an instance of deceiving oneself or being estranged from oneself. (Due date
is March 26, second last day of class, worth 50%).
Papers should follow APA format (see APA Manual); however you may use the first person in your
writings. I also caution you to restrict the number of references to those you have actually read and use in
both terms papers. When writing do so from your heart and mind!
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
4
My manner of grading term papers is as follows. I will read through all the papers sorting them into grades,
and then re-read them, comment on the papers, and assign final grades. Ms. Comanaru will grade each
paper independently. Grades are assigned relative to the other papers submitted in this class.
Writing is difficult form of expression! To benefit from this course, listen to my lectures, jot down some
few notes, and then go home and writes about the ideas, try to think them through, try to live them, and have
them resonate with your life as you live it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Other important matters:
1. Since this is an evening course, the final term paper assignment must be in on March 26 (at least if you
want the papers back on the last day of this class, April 2nd).
2. This is not the usual psychology course (if there is such): you are expected to read, reflect, and write.
However, do not let the writing requirement put you off; rather, take these as an opportunity to bring
together your learning, experience, and your understanding so as to give full expression to your views. The
lectures rely on your participation in thought if not in voice. I urge that you converse about the topics
discussed in this course with others.
3. I am certain that many of you will come to disagree with me; let me assure you that you are entitled to
state your views in your papers without prejudice. However be prepared to defend your views by example,
citations from the literature, and argument. (Do not simply assert, or use the phrase “I feel” unless you can
also “spell-out” your feelings.) I do request that you try to understand and play with the perspectives that
Fingarette in his book and I in my lectures attempt to convey. This course is about the formation of the self:
above all, appreciate that at least in the human sciences, including psychology, we must be able to live our
views and not simply think them. The course is intended to bring integration to your studies; enjoy the
course.
4. Ms. Comanaru’s office hours are listed above; I am available by appointment. Do not hesitate to email
me, or make an appointment to see me.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
5
Schedule: Winter 2009:
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
8
15
22
29
Introduction
Self in society
Constituting of the self in narrative
Fingarette expository reading
Feb 5
Feb 12
Feb 16-20 Reading week
Feb 26
1st term paper due (50%)
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
5
12
19
26
Apr 2
Existentialism: Sartre
Kierkegaard
2nd major term paper due (50%)
Hegel’s “Bondage”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Recommended selected reference readings:
The readings listed below form the backdrop to my lectures and are intended to serve as a guide to your
reading in years to come.
Alford, C. F. (1991). The self in social theory. A psychoanalytic account of its construction in
Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rawls, and Rousseau. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [See also Narcissism:
Socrates, the Frankfurt school, and psychoanalytic theory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.]
Brown, N. O. (1959/1985). Life against death: The psychoanalytical meaning of history.
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. [See also Love’s body. New York: Vintage, 1966]
Butler, J. (2005). Giving an account of oneself. New York: Fordham University Press.
Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed experience: trauma, narrative, and history. London: John Hopkins
University Press.
Cavarero, A. (2000/1997). Relating narratives: storytelling and selfhood (Transl.: Paul A.
Kottman). London: Routledge.
Dabrowski, K. (1996). Multilevelness of emotional and instinctive functions. Lublin, Poland:
Towarzysto Naukowe, Katolickiego Univwersytetu Lubelskiego. [Dabrowski, K. (1964). Positive
disintegration. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.]
Fingarette, H. (1963). The self in transformation. Psychoanalysis, philosophy and the life of spirit.
New York” Harper & Row Publishers.
Foucault, M (1965). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason. (Tr. R.
Howard.) New York: Vintage.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. New York: Random House.
Foucault, M. (1999). Abnormal. New York: Picador.
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
6
Foucault, M. (1978, 1985, 1986). History of sexuality (in 3 volumes: Introduction; The use of
pleasure; The care of the self). New York: Random House.
Fox-Genovese, E. (1991). Feminism without illusions: A critique of individualism. Chapel Hill,
NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Freud, S. (1961/1930). Civilization and its discontents. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition
of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. XXI, pp. 64-145). London: Hogarth Press.
[See also Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. Vol XXVIII, pp. 67-143.]
Freud, S. (1957/1910/1912/1918). A special type of choice of object made by men (Contributions
to the Psychology of love I); On the universal tendency to debasement in the sphere of love (Contributions
to the psychology of love II); The taboo of virginity (Contributions to the psychology of love III). In J.
Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol XI, pp.
163-108). London: Hogarth Press.
Freud, S. (1957/1915). Mourning and melancholia. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of
the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. XIV, pp. 243-258). London: Hogart Press.
Gergen, K. J. (1994). Realities and relationships: Soundings in social construction. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press. [See also The saturated self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life.
New York: Basic Books, 1991].
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Habermas, J. (1991). Moral consciousness and communicative action. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.:
Kerby, A. P. (1991). Narrative and the self. Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press.
Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration of the self. New York: International Universities Press. [See also
How does analysis cure? (A. Goldberg, Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.]
Lockhart, J. S. & Paulhus, D. L. (1988). Self-deception: An adaptive mechanism? Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Lacan, J. (1968). Ecrits: A selection (Transl. A. Sheridan). New York: W. W. Norton.
LaCapra, D. (1994). Representing the holocaust: History, theory and trauma. New York: Cornell
University Press.
Lasch, C. (1979). The culture of narcissism. New York: Warner Books.
Makkreel, R. A. (1992, second edition). Dilthey. Philosopher of the human studies. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Martin, M. W. (Ed.) (1985). Self-deception and self-understanding. New essays in philosophy and
psychology. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
Mischel, T. (Ed.) (1977). The self: psychological and philosophical issues (pp. 3-30). Oxford:
Basil Blackwell. [See especially G. McCall’s The social looking glass: A sociological perspective on selfdevelopment (pp. 274-287); S. Toulmin’s Self knowledge and knowledge of the self (pp. 291-317).]
Murphy, G. (1975). Outgrowing self-deception (with M. Leeds). New York: Basic Books
Incorporated.
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
7
Nussbaum, M, C. (1986). The fragility of goodness: luck ad ethics in Greek tragedy and
philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1990). Love’s knowledge: essays on philosophy and literature. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2001). Upheavals in thought: the intelligence of emotions. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Ricouer, P. (1992). Oneself as another. (Transl. K. Blamey). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press.
Ricouer, P. (1970). Freud and philosophy: An essay on interpretation (Transl. D. Savage). New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Taylor, C. (1985). Philosophical papers (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [See
especially Ch. 1. What is human agency? (13-44); Ch.2. Self-interpreting animals (45-75); and Ch. 4. The
concept of a person (pp. 97-114.]
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Some suggested readings for major term paper topic (or choose your own):
Baldwin, J. (1965). Nobody knows my name: More notes of a native son. New York: Dell. [Or, Go
tell it on the mountain (1952); Another country (1960).]
Camus, A. (1956). The fall. New York: Vintage. [Or, The stranger (1942); The plague (1948); The
rebel (1954); The first man (1995).]
De Beauvoir, S. (1943). She came to stay. London: Fontana. [Or, The mandarins (1954); Memoirs
of a dutiful daughter (1958); The prime of life (1960); Force of circumstance (1963); A very easy death
(1964).]
De Saint Exupery, A. (1942). Flight to Arras. New York: Harcourt & World, Inc. [Or, Night flight
(1932); The little prince (1943); Wind, sand and stars ( ).]
Dostoevsky, F. (1966/1864). Crime and punishment. New York: W. W. Norton. [Or, The
possessed (19871); The idiot (1871); The bothers Karamazov (1879).]
Gide, A. (173/1926). The counterfeiters. New York: Random House. [Or, The immoralist (1902);
Strait is the gate (1909).
Kafka, F. (1948). The penal colony. New York (1919); also, The metamorphosis (1915): New
York: Schocken Books.
Kierkegaard, S. (1954/1843 and 1849). Fear and trembling and The sickness unto death (Transl.
W. Lowrie). New York: Anchor Books. [Or, Repetition (1843); The concept of dread (1844); Stages on
life’s way (1845); Thoughts and crucial situations in human life (1945).]
Kristeva, J. (1989). Black sun. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kristeva, J. (19xx) Powers of horror. New York: Columbia University Press.
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
8
Kristeva, J. (1991). Strangers to ourselves (tr. L. S. Roudiez). New York: Columbia University
Press.
Lessing, D. (1986). Prisons we choose to live inside. Toronto: 1985 Massey lectures CBC
Enterprises. [Or, Children of volence (2 volumes) (1964) and other works.]
Manguel, A. (1986). Evening games: Chronicles of parents and children. Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, England: Peguin.
Rowley, H. (2005). Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre Tete-a-tete. New York: Harper
Collins.
Sartre, J. P. (1948). Intimacy. London: Fontana. [Or, Nausea (1938), The flies (1943).]
Works by Shakespeare, Ionesco, Becket, Pinter, Stendhal, Balzac, Proust, etc. etc.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
9
Grading system:
The following categories apply (borrowed from the University grading system)
Descriptor
Letter grade
Point value
Percentage 4yr course
_______________________________________________________________
Excellent
A+
A
A-
4.0
4.0
3.7
7%
9%
11%
Good
B+
B
B-
3.3
3.0
2.7
12%
18%
17%
Satisfactory
C+
C
C-
2.3
2.0
1.7
12%
5%
3%
Poor
D+
D
1.3
1.0
3%
2%
Fail
F
0.0
1%
_______________________________________________________________
In the past I have not assigned grades on the basis of a fixed distribution; however, the recommended
distribution, above, does provide a guideline as to what to expect in a senior, larger class.
Note that I will assign percentage grades to each of your two term papers, average these at the end of the
term, and then convert these to letter grades for submission to the registrar.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
University regulations
Students should be aware that the University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic
integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards and uphold the policies of
the university. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of
Student Behavior (http:www.ualberta.ca/SECRETARIAT/appeals.htm) and avoid any behavior that could
potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and or participation in
such an offense. Academic dishonesty is a serious offense and can result in suspension or expulsion from
the university.
No student shall represent another’s substantial editorial or compositional assistance on an assignment as
their own. No student shall submit in any course or program of study, without written permission of the
course instructor, all or a substantial portion of any academic writing, essay, thesis, research report, project
assignment, presentation, or poster for which credit has been obtained by the student or which has been or is
being submitted by the student in another course or program of the student in the University of Alberta or
elsewhere (abstracted from U of AB regulations).
LPM/ Jan. 2009
L. P. Mos, Psychology 436
10