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Hanlon's razor is an adage or rule of thumb that states:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

It is a philosophical razor that suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior. It is probably named after Robert J. Hanlon, who submitted the statement to Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980). Similar statements have been recorded since at least the 18th century.

Origin

The adage was a submission credited in print to Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a compilation of various jokes related to Murphy's law published in Arthur Bloch's Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980).

A similar quotation appears in Robert A. Heinlein's novella Logic of Empire (1941). The character Doc in the story describes the "devil theory" fallacy, explaining, "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity."

Hanlon's razor became well known after its inclusion in the Jargon File, a glossary of computer programmer slang, in 1990. Later that year, the Jargon File editors noted lack of knowledge of the term's derivation and the existence of a similar epigram by William James, although this was possibly intended as a reference to William James Laidlay. In 1996, the Jargon File entry on Hanlon's Razor noted the existence of the phrase in Heinlein's novella, with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor". The link to Murphy's law was described in a pair of 2001 blog entries by Quentin Stafford-Fraser, citing emails from Joseph E. Bigler. In 2002, the Jargon File entry noted the same. The Jargon File now calls it a "Murphyism".

The name was inspired by Occam's razor.

Exceptions

Grey's law (a humorous variant of Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law):

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

Douglas W. Hubbard quoted Hanlon's razor and added "a clumsier but more accurate corollary":

Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system.

Other variations of the idea

A variation appears in The Wheels of Chance (1896) by H.G. Wells:

There is very little deliberate wickedness in the world. The stupidity of our selfishness gives much the same results indeed, but in the ethical laboratory it shows a different nature.

A similar quote is also misattributed to Napoleon. Andrew Roberts, in his biography of Winston Churchill, quotes from Churchill's correspondence with King George VI in February 1943 regarding disagreements with Charles De Gaulle: "'His 'insolence ... may be founded on stupidity rather than malice.'"

See also

• Mike Alder § Newton's flaming laser sword
• Finagle's law
• Principle of charity
• Sturgeon's law

References

1. ^ Arthur Bloch (1980). Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong!. Price Stern Sloan. p. 52. ISBN 9780417064505.
2. ^ Eric S. Raymond, ed. (24 July 1996). "The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0". jargon-file.org. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
3. Robert Heinlein (1 March 1941). "Logic of Empire". Astounding Science-Fiction. Vol. 27, no. 1. p. 39. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
4. Guy L. Steele; Eric S. Raymond, eds. (12 June 1990). "The Jargon File, Version 2.1.1 (Draft)". jargon-file.org. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
5. Quote Investigator (30 December 2016). "Never Attribute to Malice That Which Is Adequately Explained by Stupidity". quoteinvestigator.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
6. Eric S. Raymond; Guy L. Steele, eds. (15 December 1990). "The Jargon File, Version 2.2.1". jargon-file.org. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
7. Stafford-Fraser, Quentin (26 November 2001). "[untitled]". Retrieved 19 July 2017.
8. Stafford-Fraser, Quentin (4 December 2001). "The origins of Hanlon's Razor". Retrieved 19 July 2017.
9. Eric S. Raymond, ed. (3 March 2002). "The Jargon File, Version 4.3.2". jargon-file.org. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
10. "Hanlon's Razor". Jargon File. Eric S. Raymond. 3 March 2002. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
11. Livraghi, Giancarlo (2004). Il potere della stupidità. Pescara, Italy: Monti & Ambrosini SRL. p. 1. ISBN 9788889479131.
12. Razzetti, Gustavo (8 July 2019). "The world is not out to get you". medium.com. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
13. Hubbard 2020, pp. 81–82.
14. Wells, H.G. (1896). The Wheels of Chance.
15. Selin, Shannon (14 July 2014). "Napoleon Misquoted - Ten Famous Things Bonaparte Never Actually Said". MilitaryHistoryNow.com. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
16. Roberts, Andrew (2019). Churchill: Walking with Destiny. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 9781101981009.

Literature

• Hubbard, Douglas W. (2020). The failure of risk management: why it's broken and how to fix it (Second ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. ISBN 9781119522034.

• Adages
• Principles
• Razors (philosophy)
• Intention