Rationalization of Evil

The psychological and rhetorical process of constructing socially acceptable, logical-sounding reasons for morally atrocious acts or systems. It does not merely explain evil; it justifies it by embedding it within a framework of necessity, progress, or higher purpose, making the unacceptable seem prudent or even noble.

Example: "The transatlantic slave trade was a tragic but economically necessary phase in developing modern capital markets and introducing Africans to Christianity." This rationalization of evil uses historical consequence and ideology to weave moral catastrophe into a narrative of tragic inevitability or hidden benefit.

by Dumu The Void February 9, 2026

Rational Bias

The cognitive distortion where one's own reasoning is perceived as perfectly objective, simply because it follows internal logical rules, while ignoring that the starting premises, value judgments, and framing of the problem are themselves subjective, emotional, or culturally loaded. It's the bias of believing you're bias-free because you feel coldly logical.

Example: A CEO making a "rational" decision to offshore jobs after a dispassionate cost-benefit analysis. Their rational bias allows them to ignore the premises they accepted without question: that shareholder value is the supreme metric, and that community destruction is an external "cost" not factored in.

by Dumu The Void February 9, 2026

Fallacy of Exhaustive Rationality

The mistaken belief that only perfectly rational beings—free from emotion, bias, and human limitation—can make valid judgments. This fallacy rejects all human reasoning as insufficiently rational, demanding standards that no human can meet. The Fallacy of Exhaustive Rationality is beloved of those who want to dismiss perspectives they dislike—women are too emotional, minorities are too biased, the poor are too desperate—while exempting themselves from similar scrutiny. It's the logic of "you're not being rational, so your view doesn't count," applied selectively to silence opponents while ignoring one's own irrationality. The cure is recognizing that rationality is not a binary state but a spectrum, and that all humans—including the accuser—operate with bias, emotion, and limitation.

Example: "He dismissed her concerns about workplace discrimination as 'emotional, not rational.' The Fallacy of Exhaustive Rationality had been deployed: her experience was invalid because it wasn't delivered with perfect objectivity. Never mind that his own views were shaped by unexamined bias; exhaustive rationality was demanded of her, not him. The double standard was the point."

by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

Theory of Rationality Constructions

The theory that rationality itself is constructed—that what counts as reasonable, logical, or rational varies across contexts and is shaped by social, cultural, and historical forces. Rationality Constructions argues that there is no single, universal standard of reason—only different communities with different norms, developed for different purposes, serving different interests. This doesn't mean reason is arbitrary; it means reason is plural, that different rationalities exist, that the question isn't "is it rational?" but "rational by whose standards?" The Theory of Rationality Constructions explains why cross-cultural communication is hard, why debates about reason never end, why what seems obvious to one person seems absurd to another. Rationality is constructed, not given—and constructed things can be contested.

Theory of Rationality Constructions Example: "He couldn't understand why his arguments didn't convince people from different backgrounds. The Theory of Rationality Constructions explained: they were using different rationalities, different standards, different norms. His logic was logical in his framework; theirs was logical in theirs. Neither was wrong; they were just differently constructed. Understanding didn't win arguments, but it stopped him from calling them irrational."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Post-Western Rationality

The recognition that the Western model of rationality—with its emphasis on universal logic, formal proof, and objective truth—is not the only model, and that alternative rationalities exist and are valid. Post-Western Rationality doesn't reject reason; it pluralizes it. It argues that different cultures, different traditions, different contexts have developed different ways of reasoning, different standards of validity, different conceptions of truth. These are not failed attempts at Western rationality; they are different rationalities altogether. Post-Western Rationality is the philosophy of cognitive diversity, of the recognition that reason is not one thing but many.

Example: "He'd been taught that Western logic was just logic—the only way to reason properly. Post-Western Rationality showed him otherwise: other cultures had other logics, other ways of knowing, other standards of validity. These weren't primitive; they were different. He stopped judging other rationalities by Western standards and started learning to think in new ways."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Theory of Post-Western Rationality

The systematic elaboration of post-Western rationality as a framework for understanding cognitive diversity. The Theory of Post-Western Rationality argues that the dominance of Western rationality is a historical accident, not a logical necessity—a product of colonialism, not cognitive superiority. It traces the development of alternative rationalities in different cultures, shows how they work on their own terms, and argues for their legitimacy. It doesn't claim that all rationalities are equally good for all purposes; it claims that they are different tools for different tasks, and that we need all of them. The Theory of Post-Western Rationality is the foundation of cognitive decolonization, of the recognition that reason has many homes.

Example: "He'd assumed that Western science was simply the best way to know things. The Theory of Post-Western Rationality showed him otherwise: Indigenous knowledge systems, Eastern philosophies, African epistemologies—all were rationalities, all were valid, all had things to teach. He stopped treating other ways of knowing as inferior and started learning from them."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Theory of Rational Paradigms

The extension of paradigm theory to rationality itself—the idea that what counts as rational operates within paradigms, frameworks that shift over time and vary across contexts. The Theory of Rational Paradigms argues that there is no single, timeless standard of rationality; instead, different paradigms define rationality differently. What was rational in one era (burning witches, bleeding patients) is irrational in another; what's rational in one culture (ancestor worship, spirit communication) is irrational in another. This doesn't mean rationality is arbitrary; it means rationality is historical, cultural, and plural. The task is not to find the one true rationality but to understand different rational paradigms.

Example: "He'd thought rationality was the same everywhere—universal, timeless, objective. The Theory of Rational Paradigms showed him otherwise: what counted as rational shifted with time and place. Medieval rationality wasn't failed modern rationality; it was different rationality altogether. He stopped judging other paradigms by his own and started trying to understand them on their terms."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026