tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2545318833391348896.post6523294506733528471..comments2009-04-17T10:55:44.549-07:00Comments on The Crucible: The Desire to JustifyAaron Snellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551668915973379312noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2545318833391348896.post-82769091563703209312007-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:002007-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:00Matt,I agree that a little epistemic humility is a...Matt,<BR/><BR/>I agree that a little epistemic humility is a good thing when examining our own motivations, but I would reject the nihilistic existentialism that lead Sartre to say what he did on the subject.<BR/><BR/>It's a tricky subject, though, to pin this on another - and on the other hand, hard not to come to this conclusion in the case of de Sade, Rousseau, etc. As Bill Vallicella said, the suspicion that these theories are merely ideology in support of their own depraved behavior is "well-nigh irresistable."Aaron Snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08551668915973379312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2545318833391348896.post-90513985364381595902007-06-15T06:55:00.000-07:002007-06-15T06:55:00.000-07:00Very interesting, and worthy of further examinatio...Very interesting, and worthy of further examination.<BR/><BR/>If this phenomenon is widespread, I think a possible reason is an innate desire for us to believe ourselves to be more rational than we actually are. Sartre himself talks about the near-impossibility of accurately ascribing motivations to our own actions.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342391408412861663noreply@blogger.com