{"product_id":"by-the-grace-of-guile-the-role-of-deception-in-natural-history-and-human-affairs-9780195075083","title":"By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe nihilists are right  admits philosopher Loyal Rue. The universe is blind and aimless  indifferent to us and void of meaning. There are no absolute truths and no objective values. There is no right or wrong way to live  only alternative ways. There is no correct reading of a text or a picture or a dance. God is dead  nihilism reigns. But  Rue adds  nihilism is a truth inconsistent with personal happiness and social coherence. What we need instead is a new myth  a noble lie. Only a noble lie can save us from the psychological and social chaos now threatened by the spread of skepticism about the meaning of life and the universe. In By the Grace of Guile  Loyal Rue offers a wide ranging look at the importance of deception in nature and in human society  concluding with an argument for a noble lie to replace the religious beliefs rejected by modern thought. Most of the book is a provocative apology for deception  illuminating its role in the shaping of history  evolution  personality  and society. Ranging from the Bible and Greek philosophy  to Saint Augustine and Montaigne  to Galileo  Kirkegaard  and Freud  Rue shows that it may be more accurate to describe the history of our culture as a flight from deception than as a quest for truth. He turns then to the natural world to reveal how deception works at every level of life  ranging from plants that mimic dung  carrion  or prey to lure insects that then spread pollen  to a remarkable African insect (Acanthaspis petax) that bedecks itself with dead ants and enters the ant colony undetected to binge at will. Moreover  he points out that psychological research has shown that strategies of deception and self-deception are essential to our personal well-being  that we sometimes shore up our self-esteem by deceptive means  by leaving others in a state of ignorance  by manipulating others into a state of false belief  by suppressing information from consciousness  and by fabricating or distorting our own sense of reality. And he argues that social coherence is achievable only within certain optimal limits of deception--the social fabric would be threatened by an overabundance of lies and false promises  of course  but it would also collapse if everyone were perfectly honest all the time. Finally  he argues that society is caught up in a Kulturkampf with nihilists promoting intellectual and moral relativism and realists defending objective and universal truths. The noble lie  says Rue  would introduce a third voice  one which first agrees with the nihilists that universal myths are pretentious lies  but then insists  against the nihilists  that without such lies humanity cannot survive. The challenge  he concludes  is ultimately an aesthetic one: it remains for the artists  poets  novelists  musicians  filmmakers  and other masters of illusion to seduce us into an embrace with a noble lie. We need a new myth that tells us where we have come from  what our nature is  and how we should live together--a story with the courage and presumption to say how things really are and what really matters.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646888173621,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195075080","price":25.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195075083.jpg?v=1781680146","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/by-the-grace-of-guile-the-role-of-deception-in-natural-history-and-human-affairs-9780195075083","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}