Rationality Has Saved Us Thus Far

Rationality Has Saved Us Thus Far

In the documentary, The Fog of War, Robert McNamara Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 said, “Rationality will not save us.” McNamara argues, “even though we failed, we did behave rationally." Meaning, they acted upon their best evidence and motives, rationally; however, in the end they failed to realize the truth of the matter. Basically, the reason we did not have nuclear war was out of sheer luck. Therefore, McNamara draws the conclusion that rationality had failed them, and therefore it will not save us in the future. Another point that this lesson implies is that classical nuclear deterrence does not work. Nuclear deterrence is based on the rationality of the players. Since rationality is deemed to be unreliable, it would imply that we are all doomed. The problem with this statement is that rationality has been the only thing that has saved us thus far. If rationality was unreliable then we would have been doomed from the start. However, the rationality of nations’ leaders has proven to keep us away from a nuclear war. Even though McNamara claims that it was luck that had prevented them from a war, it was the rationality of a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Llewellyn “Tommy” Thompson, who advised President Kennedy not to attack Cuba. So, in fact, it is rationality that saves us. To further develop