Escape from freedom
18/05/21 02:16
As the world became aware of the horrors of the Holocaust as World War II ended in Europe, scientists and scholars began to wrestle with the question of how such a horror could occur in a modern and advanced society. Several psychosocial studies examined the rise of Nazism in Germany and its relationship to Protestant theology. The Frankfurt-born psychologist Erik Fromm published the book, Escape from Freedom in 1952. In that book he develops his definition of freedom, including an analysis of “freedom from” and “freedom to.” He also writes about how many people, in search of some form of security, will release their freedom to authoritarian leaders. He writes that Hitler’s Mein Kampf clearly demonstrates an authoritarian personalty structure and describes how the German middle class, in search of a sense of pride and certainty submitted to the authoritarian structure of Nazism.
Allied troops who participated in the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps were horrified at the conditions and the systematic genocide being practiced there. In several cases, they asked local German citizens how they allowed such horrors to be perpetuated in their community. Frequently they were met with denial that such places existed. Even when they forced local citizens to view the camps filled with starving and barely alive inmates and factory-style crematorium ovens, people refused to believe that this had been going on for years in their community. They had seen the trainloads of men, women and children arriving. They had seen, and smelled, the smoke from the ovens. Still, they couldn’t believe what was going on in their own back yards.
More recent psychological studies have continued the exploration of the dynamics of people who adhere strongly to false conclusions. Several famous studies show how common it is for people to believe false logic. Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman offers a series of quick problems to illustrate the phenomena. Here is one of his examples. He gives the instruction to those who are reading his book not to try to solve the problem, but rather to listen to their intuition:
A bat and ball cost $1.10.
The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost?
Most people, upon being presented with this problem will first think of the number 10: 10 cents. The problem presents a very appealing answer that is wrong. If the ball costs 10 cents, then the bat costs one dollar more, which is $1.10 and the total cost is $1.20. The correct answer is 5 cents. However, when this simple test was presented to students at Harvard, Princeton and MIT, more than half of the highly educated students gave the wrong answer.
Kahneman observes that it isn’t alarming that such a percentage of highly educated college students would reach an incorrect answer. What is surprising is that such a percentage failed to do the relatively easy work of checking their answer.
Once we have reached a conclusion, we often fail to see the error of our logic. When people believe a conclusion is true, they will also believe that the arguments that appear to support is are true, even when those arguments are unsound. Consider another of Kahneman’s examples:
All roses are flowers.
Some flower fade quickly.
Therefore some roses fade quickly.
A large majority of college students endorse this syllogism as valid. Like the bat and ball problem an answer comes to mind quickly. “It’s true, it’s true, some roses fade quickly.” Having embraced the conclusion, many people fail to see the fairly obvious logical flaw in the argument. It is possible that there are no roses among the flowers that fade quickly. However, having embraced the conclusions, most people fail to question the logic.
Shane Frederick, who worked with Daniel Kahneman on a theory of judgement came up with another question:
How many murders occur in the state of Michigan in one year?
Most people will choose a number that is lower than the correct answer. However, the same people, when asked how many murders occur in Detroit in one year will frequently choose a number that is higher than the correct answer. Many respondents answered that more murders occurred in Detroit than their estimate of how many murders occur in Michigan. When asked to consider how many murders occur, people seem to fail to see the obvious fact that Detroit is in Michigan.
Once people embrace a conclusion, they fail to question the logic.
When the issue is a simple problem about the cost of sports equipment or the tendency of flowers to fade errors in logic can easily be understood. However, as in the case of the rise of Nazism in Hitler’s Germany, the consequences of the failure to think logically blinded people to the presence of murderous evil in their midst. They embraced flawed logic:
Criminals are in prison.
The Jews are in prison.
Therefore Jews must be criminals.
The result was the perpetration of one of the largest crimes against humanity. It is a horror no matter how much it is studied and even understood. The horrors are not restricted to the past. It is easy to find politicians and news pundits in the United States today who espouse similarly flawed logic:
Some people sneak across the border between Mexico and the US without proper documentation.
People seeking asylum attempt to cross the border between Mexico and the US.
Therefore all of those seeking asylum are illegal.
or
Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
More people voted for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016.
Therefore the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Pointing out the logical errors in the argument does little to convince those making the argument of their error. They have already embraced the conclusion and have little energy for examining their logic.
As was the case in Germany during the rise of Nazism flawed logic can lead to tragic results. Innocents die when authoritarianism rises. Families are separated and children are locked in cages when people fail to question their conclusions. The government of the United States has not yet fallen into the grips of an authoritarian dictator. The majority of voters did not embrace an escape from freedom in the last election.
It was, however, close enough to invite serious reflection on the flawed logic of some of our political leaders.
Allied troops who participated in the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps were horrified at the conditions and the systematic genocide being practiced there. In several cases, they asked local German citizens how they allowed such horrors to be perpetuated in their community. Frequently they were met with denial that such places existed. Even when they forced local citizens to view the camps filled with starving and barely alive inmates and factory-style crematorium ovens, people refused to believe that this had been going on for years in their community. They had seen the trainloads of men, women and children arriving. They had seen, and smelled, the smoke from the ovens. Still, they couldn’t believe what was going on in their own back yards.
More recent psychological studies have continued the exploration of the dynamics of people who adhere strongly to false conclusions. Several famous studies show how common it is for people to believe false logic. Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman offers a series of quick problems to illustrate the phenomena. Here is one of his examples. He gives the instruction to those who are reading his book not to try to solve the problem, but rather to listen to their intuition:
A bat and ball cost $1.10.
The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost?
Most people, upon being presented with this problem will first think of the number 10: 10 cents. The problem presents a very appealing answer that is wrong. If the ball costs 10 cents, then the bat costs one dollar more, which is $1.10 and the total cost is $1.20. The correct answer is 5 cents. However, when this simple test was presented to students at Harvard, Princeton and MIT, more than half of the highly educated students gave the wrong answer.
Kahneman observes that it isn’t alarming that such a percentage of highly educated college students would reach an incorrect answer. What is surprising is that such a percentage failed to do the relatively easy work of checking their answer.
Once we have reached a conclusion, we often fail to see the error of our logic. When people believe a conclusion is true, they will also believe that the arguments that appear to support is are true, even when those arguments are unsound. Consider another of Kahneman’s examples:
All roses are flowers.
Some flower fade quickly.
Therefore some roses fade quickly.
A large majority of college students endorse this syllogism as valid. Like the bat and ball problem an answer comes to mind quickly. “It’s true, it’s true, some roses fade quickly.” Having embraced the conclusion, many people fail to see the fairly obvious logical flaw in the argument. It is possible that there are no roses among the flowers that fade quickly. However, having embraced the conclusions, most people fail to question the logic.
Shane Frederick, who worked with Daniel Kahneman on a theory of judgement came up with another question:
How many murders occur in the state of Michigan in one year?
Most people will choose a number that is lower than the correct answer. However, the same people, when asked how many murders occur in Detroit in one year will frequently choose a number that is higher than the correct answer. Many respondents answered that more murders occurred in Detroit than their estimate of how many murders occur in Michigan. When asked to consider how many murders occur, people seem to fail to see the obvious fact that Detroit is in Michigan.
Once people embrace a conclusion, they fail to question the logic.
When the issue is a simple problem about the cost of sports equipment or the tendency of flowers to fade errors in logic can easily be understood. However, as in the case of the rise of Nazism in Hitler’s Germany, the consequences of the failure to think logically blinded people to the presence of murderous evil in their midst. They embraced flawed logic:
Criminals are in prison.
The Jews are in prison.
Therefore Jews must be criminals.
The result was the perpetration of one of the largest crimes against humanity. It is a horror no matter how much it is studied and even understood. The horrors are not restricted to the past. It is easy to find politicians and news pundits in the United States today who espouse similarly flawed logic:
Some people sneak across the border between Mexico and the US without proper documentation.
People seeking asylum attempt to cross the border between Mexico and the US.
Therefore all of those seeking asylum are illegal.
or
Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
More people voted for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016.
Therefore the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Pointing out the logical errors in the argument does little to convince those making the argument of their error. They have already embraced the conclusion and have little energy for examining their logic.
As was the case in Germany during the rise of Nazism flawed logic can lead to tragic results. Innocents die when authoritarianism rises. Families are separated and children are locked in cages when people fail to question their conclusions. The government of the United States has not yet fallen into the grips of an authoritarian dictator. The majority of voters did not embrace an escape from freedom in the last election.
It was, however, close enough to invite serious reflection on the flawed logic of some of our political leaders.
