An accurate estimate of anyone else’s psychology is a dubious benefit in strategic interactions that depend solely on being able to predict the actions of friend and foe.
An accurate estimate of anyone else’s psychology should improve your ability to predict their actions.
By parity of reasoning, the rational principle of seeking our own advantage allows us to use our enemies at our pleasure, and treat them as is most convenient for us. For our civic nature is defined by the constitution of our state; and to the extent that foreign subjects do not agree in nature with us, and their affects are different in nature from our affects, we would be ill served by extending our habitual notions of humanity, formed through intercourse with our compatriots, to anyone that does not partake of our social compact.
Beautiful. If I may misquote Tanos—”Using christianity to destroy christianity.” I am not sure Spinoza would agree with the notion that foreigners are non-human, though.
Leaving questions of theology and morality aside, the point of the above post is that thinking of your enemies as non-human will intervene with your ability to accurately model their motivations and predict/influence their future behaviour.
Necroing, I couldn’t help myself:
An accurate estimate of anyone else’s psychology should improve your ability to predict their actions.
Beautiful. If I may misquote Tanos—”Using christianity to destroy christianity.” I am not sure Spinoza would agree with the notion that foreigners are non-human, though.
Leaving questions of theology and morality aside, the point of the above post is that thinking of your enemies as non-human will intervene with your ability to accurately model their motivations and predict/influence their future behaviour.