Here’s a fun piece of trivia: philosophical razors get their name because they “shave off” unlikely explanations for a phenomenon. Hanlon’s razor is the ugly duckling brother of Occam’s razor.1 I first learned of Hanlon’s razor while reading The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts. Shane Parrish authored it, and he has an excellent blog called Farnum Street that covers topics like “how to think, learn, and make decisions.”2 To quote Wikipedia, Hanlon’s razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”3 First, let’s summarize what this means. Then I’ll cover some areas where people often make this error of thinking.
Malice is most commonly applied to individuals or organizations. So thinking of people or organizations to which malice is commonly applied is a good starting point. When I think of malice, I think, “so-and-so just fired that person because they were trying to hurt them.” A person or organization doing something for the reason of harming or doing evil would be malice. Someone doing something for any other set of motives would not classify as malice.
Stupidity is showing a lack of good sense or judgment. Stupidity can cause evil outcomes, but that doesn’t mean the intent is evil/malicious. Consider murder versus manslaughter in law. Murder is killing someone with malicious intent, while manslaughter is unintentionally killing someone. The outcome, homicide leading to the person being dead, could be considered evil in each situation, but the act is only necessarily evil in one situation.
The easiest, and possibly most triggering, example is within the realm of politics. My adulthood includes the presidencies of Obama, Trump, and Biden. Throughout each of their times in office, different people in my life attacked them viciously. And while the attacks were occasionally about the outcomes of policy changes, the attacks were more often in regards to their physical appearance, intelligence, personality, or morality. None of these characterological/ad hominem attacks are useful, and those which assume malicious intent should be questioned according to Hanlon’s razor. Does Hanlon’s razor assume that every intent which leads to a poor outcome is based in stupidity rather than malice? No. But it does tell us that we often assume malice rather than stupidity (or other reasons). I’m currently reading A Promised Land by Obama, and he provides multiple examples, especially when he was senator, where he worked with republicans on bills they wanted to pass. He said that many republicans, even though they were ideologically opposed to him in many ways, were friendly and wanted good for the country. He would be tarred and feathered by the extreme side of his own party if he voiced beliefs like this today. And if he had assumed malice was the primary intention of republican senators, he would have achieved less in the senate and likely not had the necessary support (some of which was support from republicans) to ascend to the presidency.
Next, let’s move to billionaires. Those most talked about/hated include Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. While there is a financially-motivated minority, generally on the right politically, who looks up to this group, they are predominantly looked down upon by the average American. Here are a few spots online which attack these individuals.456 Now, could there be poor consequences which occur due to their massive accumulated wealth? Definitely. Is the widening socioeconomic wealth gap something we should be concerned about? Certainly. But is to individually or categorically decry billionaires as evil helpful or even accurate? I would argue that it is not. While I don’t think everyone does equal amounts of good and bad things, I do believe that no one human is perfectly good or completely evil. And the argument of Hanlon’s razor is that even when some decisions are leading to outcomes that are arguably evil, the intention is most often unintentional and under the umbrella of stupidity. Do I believe Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms are largely harmful platforms, worsening the mental health of teens and causing political polarization? Yes. But after listening to interviews of Zuckerberg and those who know, it seems like he believes these platforms and future products are making the world a better place. My difference of opinion from him doesn’t make his decisions or personality malicious. Anything as large-scale as Facebook is bound to cause both help and harm. It’s no wonder there are multiple opinions on the subject.
Will thinking through the lens of Hanlon’s razor make you naïve or soft? No. Changing your paradigm, or how you see the world, will provide those around you with grace and cause you to be more open-minded. This, in turn, will give you the opportunity to see problems caused by stupidity as solvable rather than feeling powerless and bitter. Positive change in these people and organizations can come from this, but it also causes the person with this mindset, you or me, to be healthier emotionally.
These examples are illustrative with the goal of helping you examine those in your life who you despise, who you find repulsive. I encourage you to take a minute right now to pick someone who you consider to have malicious intent. This can be someone you know personally or an individual or organization that functions in a position of power. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine yourself in their position with their responsibilities and burdens, with the expectations they carry. What reasons can you give, other than malice, for decisions they have made which you disagree with? How would you have made decisions differently? And with your different decision, could there have been some negative consequences from it? Could there be people who see your decision as incorrect and possibly malicious? I postulate that those each of us see as outsiders aren’t as crazy or malicious as we believe.
I would love to hear who you chose and your thoughts in the comments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
https://fs.blog/tgmm/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
https://www.quora.com/Is-Mark-Zuckerberg-a-bad-person?top_ans=140249716
https://vnhsmirror.com/217083/opinion-comment/billionaires-are-evil-and-youll-never-be-one/
https://unherd.com/2022/05/bill-gates-wants-to-build-a-dystopia/
Regarding Hanlon’s razor, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
It seems people are quick to decide the bad outcome due to bad people instead of ignorant (in a good way) people. The people that haven't contemplated the other side of the coin.
Open-mindedness is so important if we want to understand and care about everyone around us.
It seems many who are so sure about their position are very sensitive to opposing viewpoints. They often get frustrated if you offer a different idea.
"pick someone who you consider to have malicious intent....
My far-right mother-in-law and my far-left sister- in-law.
"Put yourself in their shoes..."
They both are surrounded by one-sided media and environments that program them further to the extreme.
"What reasons can you give, other than malice, for decisions they have made which you disagree with?..."
They don't take the time with an open mind to listen the argument/ reasoning of the other side.
"How would you have made decisions differently?..."
Do the above.
"And with your different decision, could there have been some negative consequences from it?"
Some people will judge you for what ever opinion you have. You have to decide they have a right to their opinion, but they shouldn't make you feel bad for yours.
"Could there be people who see your decision as incorrect and possibly malicious?"
Of course...
"Outsiders...."
Outsiders are just people with different opinions. We have to accept them, love them and share our knowledge and reasoning with them in a gentle and respectful way.