Food for thought! In the 21st century this is still very true, unfortunately!
This is also called hindsight rationalizing of decisions!
Caveat: I did not read the entire article.
"David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature has been called “one of the keystone books of western philosophy,” “the founding document of cognitive science,” and perhaps the “most important philosophical work” in the English language. ...
For those who believe reason governs them, further consideration of Hume’s philosophy exposes their arrogance.
“Nothing is more usual in philosophy, and even in common life,” Hume wrote in his Treatise, than to claim the “pre-eminence of reason above passion.”
By passions, Hume means our predispositions, charged thinking, and emotions generated by beliefs of which we are often unaware. Hume argues, “reason alone can never produce any action, or give rise to volition.” He adds, “I infer, that the same faculty [reason] is as incapable of preventing volition, or of disputing the preference with any passion or emotion.”
Hume argues our “passions” come first, and then we use “reason” to justify what our emotions have decided. We think reason drives our decision-making bus, but reason is often only a passenger. ..."
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