ABSTRACT
This essay is an inquiry into the possibility of a Confucian response to the problem of self-deception. The paucity of textual materials makes extensive reconstruction and interpretation necessary (Zhang 1991). The following investigation is based mainly on my studies of Xunzi’s moral philosophy. Section I treats the classical Confucian concern with self-deception in Daxue (Great Learning). Section II deals with the diagnosis of self-deception in light of Xunzi’s conception of bi (obscuration) and the problems that arise in discussing the Confucian notion of the self.
