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Full Idea
A central assumption of Western moral thought is mistaken: the requirements of reason and morality do not coincide. Immorality need not be unreasonable. ...Malevolent motives in combination with ideologies supply reasons for doing evil.
Gist of Idea
Reason and morality do not coincide; immorality can be reasonable, with an ideology
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 06.5)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.136
A Reaction
I presume that Kant would say the malevolent motives are irrational. If I perform an evil act because someone gives me a stupid reason for doing it, I am not thereby rational because I am acting for a reason. Wrong.
Related Idea
Idea 20164 The ideal of an ideology is embodied in a text, a role model, a law of history, a dream of the past... [Kekes]