Denise Meyerson has recently argued that the adaptational account of false consciousness must appeal to a psychological element, contrary to explicit declarations of its proponents. In order to explain why the rulers genuinely hold ideological beliefs, one must take them to desire to think well of themselves. She concludes that the desire to think well of oneself causes the ideological beliefs. The article defends the adaptational account from Meyerson's attempt to ground it in the psychology of the rulers. Meyerson is wrong both in thinking that the desire in question is explanatorily necessary and in thinking that its explanatory role would consist in its causing ideological beliefs.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Burge, T.1979. Individualism and the mental. In Studies in metaphysics, edited by P. A. French , T. E. Uehling Jr., and H. K. Wettstein, 73-122. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
2.
Cohen, G.A.1978. Karl Marx's theory of history: A defence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
3.
_. 1982. Reply to Elster on Marxism, functionalism, and game theory . Theory and Society11:483-95.
4.
Collins, A.W.1987. The nature of mental things. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
5.
Davidson, D.1980. Actions, reasons, and causes. In Essays on actions and events, 3-19. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
6.
Elster, J.1982. Marxism, functionalism, and game theory: The case for methodological individualism. Theory and Society11:453-82.
7.
_. 1985.Making sense of MarxCambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
_. 1989. Belief, bias and ideology. In Rationality and relativism, edited by M. Hollis and S. Lukes, 123-48. Cambridge: MIT Press.
9.
Levine, A., E. Sober, and E.O. Wright.1987. Marxism and methodological individualism . New Left Review162:67-84.
Nowak, L.1975. Theory of socio-economic formations as an adaptive theory . Revolutionary World14:85-102.
12.
Nowak, L., ed. 1982. Social classes, action and historical materialism. Poznan studies in the philosophy of the sciences and the humanities. Vol. 6. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
13.
_. 1987. Man and people. Social Theory and Practice14:1-17.
14.
_. 1991. Power and civil society: Toward a dynamic theory of real socialism. New York: Greenwood.
15.
Pettit, P.1986. The common mind: An essay on psychology, society, and politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16.
Putnam, H.1975. The meaning of meaning. In Mind, language and reality, 215-71. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
