Category Archives: Notes

Honest Self-Delusion Principle (mini draft)

a principle applicable to all existing doctrines and human behaviors in development:

  • reflect upon the underlying facts and assumptions during a behavior
  • specifically, watch for assumptions and lies to yourself (self-deceptions)
  • keep a written catalog of all assumptions you have ever used for a specific behavior
  • once you detect a self-deception, check whether you have already written it down. If not, write a new self-deception down.
  • at any point in time, such as during an argument, check your self-deception catalog.

Writing down a self-deception:

  • be absolutely honest about the self-deception
  • attempt short, exact and close formulations

Checking your self-deception catalog:

  • helps you to be absolutely honest about what you base your behavior (or life) upon
  • encourages you to be honest with yourself
  • provides a solid discussion topic basis

To do: examples

more thoughts in the dled.livejournal.com archive.

Update: actually, the subject has been much better elaborated upon in the “Letters to a Young Contrarian” by Christopher Hitchens.