STREET DOGS

From The Wisest One in the Room by Thomas Gilovich:

“Note that the best rationalisations are those that have an element of truth. Whether you vote or not will almost certainly have no influence on the outcome of an election. Nor will the amount of carbon you personally put into the atmosphere make a difference in the fate of the planet.

And perhaps it really should be up to the governments rather than the charities that are soliciting your contributions to feed the hungry and homeless in the US or save children around the world from crushing poverty and abuse.

But the fact that these statements are true doesn’t mean they aren’t also rationalisations that you and others use to justify questionable behaviour.

This uncomfortable truth is crucial to an understanding of the link between rationalisation and evil — an understanding that starts with the awareness that sane people rarely, if ever, act in a truly evil manner unless they can rationalise their actions.

As the distinguished British philosopher Isaiah Berlin reflected on the bitter lessons of the 20th century: “Few things have done more harm than the belief on the part of individuals or groups [or tribes or states or nations or churches] that he or she or they are in sole possession of the truth, especially about how to live, what to be and do — that those who differ from them are not merely mistaken, but wicked or mad: and need restraining or suppressing.

“It is a terrible and dangerous arrogance to believe that you alone are right, have a magical eye which sees the truth, and that others cannot be right if they disagree. We must recognise that our view of the world is just that — a view that has been shaped by our own vantage point, history and idiosyncratic knowledge.”