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REASON

2141. Human beings are only rational utilitarians at a distance. Up close, many decisions are primarily emotional -- tribal, or personal. The purveyors of utopia -- call it socialism, world government, or the new world order -- imagine solutions for problems they do not understand.

1111. "Cultural sensitivity" should not preclude the criticism of oppressive,  unjust, and absurd cultural practices. For how else can freedom, justice, and reason be advanced?

888. If a tribe becomes too rational — perhaps it will always succumb to the tribe that has the determination that only blind belief can confer. (This Observation is derived from #616. It appeared in some correspondence, and found its way to  the "Belief" page of The Quote Garden.)

851. There is an inherent contradiction in human affairs: no approach can be considered "rational" which does not take into account the essential irrationality of the species.

850. Man will always be unruly, for he is only partly rational: he is also dreamer, survivalist, and tribalist.

560. In the hotel of the human psyche, emotion owns and manages the building; science and reason are occasional guests.

480. It remains to be seen whether, in the current conflict between religious and national tribalism, the tribalism most impervious to reason will triumph.

390. The greatest threat to the immortality of  "salvation" is neither sin nor wickedness, but plain thinking and rational analysis.

129. Reason is often used to justify--but seldom to contradict--a powerful emotion, or previously declared position.  Compare:

47. While it may not be appropriate in every venue, and on every occasion, mockery is the guardian of reason, the enemy of pretension, and the mirror to folly. No belief, no passion, no commitment should be considered immune from the acerbic test of ridicule.

44.We long to be rational; but stupidity, dreams, and emotion are at the core or our being.