Friday, July 13, 2012

Rationalization and decision-making

"There are always a dozen reasons for doing nothing," Ann liked to say..."There is only one reason for doing something. And that's because you want to." Or have to? Ann would furiously deny it: coercion, she would say, is just another word for doing what you want, or for not doing what you are afraid of.


"Reason as logic or reason as motive?"


- John Le Carre Tinker, Tailor, Solder Spy

Two interesting quotes from a great author. We always just do things because we want to. We often use our logic to explain why we do not want to take action. Once we want to do something, reasons are not required. This leads to the second quote. Do we use reasons as logic or just as our motive or justification? We often use reasons as our justification. How can we tell the difference?

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