Legend has it that when Chilan of Sparta asked, "What is best for man?" Apollo replied, "Know thyself." Thus, carved into the lintel of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi were the Greek words "gnothi seauton"—"Know thyself" (Parke 1933). We can try to follow this Delphic injunction because we are self-conscious beings, capable of self-reflection.

Sigmund Freud (1923) maintained that we have unconscious beliefs, desires, motives, and intentions, and that extensive use of psychoanalytic techniques is often required to uncover them. Whether there is a Freudian unconscious is controversial, as is whether or not there is suppression or repression in the psychoanalytic senses. Nevertheless, our mental lives can be dissociated. And self-reflection can be as biased as reflection on any topic. Too charitable an attitude towards ourselves can leave us overly sanguine about the strength of our characters or the goodness of our intentions. Too uncharitable an attitude can...