# Justifications By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-05-04 A famous person once said, “Whatever you do, don’t base anything you do on anything I’ve said.” An interesting approach to justification is based on developing one’s position based on what people have said in the past. There used to be some skill to this, as knowing what people said required extensive reading. Now, one can find an indefinitely large number of quotes from famous people nearly instantaneously. People have said many things, so finding a quote that aligns with what one wants to say isn’t challenging. Of course, searching for famous quotes is devoid of any context. One has a quote but no idea when or why the quote was said. Some will make an effort to understand the context of the quote. Most will not. For justification, it isn’t necessary. People in the audience tend to accept the quote as sufficient. The effectiveness of this approach suggests something about humans. Justification by reference to past authority tends to be effective because humans have been taught to hold historical views in esteem. In some respects, this makes sense; in others, it is rather odd. Humans are quirky. A quote is deficient as a justification unless one is a staunch traditionalist. That somebody said something at some time doesn’t legitimize anything. Knowing what people have said historically reflects learning and perhaps wisdom. Today, it likely reflects neither. Sometimes, it is doubtful that the person offering the historical quote even knows who the historical person was. Humans seem to feel compelled to provide justifications. This compulsion should be better understood. So, too, should the inadequacies of the approaches taken to justify positions. As another famous person reportedly said, “Most of my quotes are made up, but nobody seems to care.” #### Related Items [[Justification]] [[Quote]] [[Authority]] [[Wisdom]] [[History]]