This volume investigates the complex interplay between affective states, motivational drives, and the cognitive mechanisms that govern belief formation and the persistence of delusional states. The editors, Jordi Fernández and Tim Bayne, assemble a collection of essays from leading philosophers and psychologists to examine how non-rational factors influence the architecture of human belief. By bridging the gap between clinical psychiatry and cognitive epistemology, the text provides a framework for understanding why individuals maintain beliefs that appear resistant to contradictory evidence. The contributors analyze the boundary conditions of rationality and the specific psychological pressures that lead to the development of self-deception and clinical delusions.

Experts in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science recognize this collection as a rigorous interdisciplinary resource for understanding the limits of human rationality. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for advanced students and researchers in the fields of psychology and epistemology.