Rationalizing
Also: Making Excuses, Retro Justification,
The End Justifies the Means, Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, Victim Blaming, Special Pleading, Double Standard, Disinformation
Class: Evade
The End Justifies the Means, Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, Victim Blaming, Special Pleading, Double Standard, Disinformation
Class: Evade
Making an excuse to justify something.
You shouldn’t spread rumors about her.
Well she said rumors about me!
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Climate change is caused by emissions.
That would mean we have to completely change many industries, so I just cannot believe in that. It must be natural.
Wishful thinking doesn’t make it true.
The study data showed that alcohol is worse than cannabis.
Well, we need to keep people off drugs, so let’s just fake the data.
Good intentions are no excuse for lying.
Well guys wouldn’t say those things to her if she didn’t dress that way.
So guys aren’t responsible for their own behavior? You’re blaming the victim!
Foolacy vs. Fallacy
The Rationalization fallacy is defined as giving insincere reasons (consciously or not). But it’s not easy to prove if the given reason is insincere.
Most real-world examples are more specifically to justify wrongdoing by saying two wrongs make a right, everyone else is doing it, double standards (special pleading), wishful thinking, blaming the victim, or the end justifies the means (consequentialism).Of course the distinction between rationalizing and making a fair counter-argument is highly subjective. Rationalization often involves other foolacies, so consider this a catch-all for anything that doesn’t fit a more specific foolacy.