23 Self-righteousnessEveryone in degree believes in the worth and justice of his own motives and interests. No one can view his own interests with perfect fairness; no one can even be certain of his own deepest motives. Yet a thoughtful man can be aware that his thinking may be beset with "secret faults." Hard as it is to avoid such faults, one can at least realize that righteous intentions do not attest to truth, and that neither interest nor motives have any necessary relation to the justice of a case. One may be right in a contention which accords perfectly with his desires and interests -- or he may be wrong. And one can do the right thing for the wrong reasons: one can be selfish or bigoted and yet, at the same time, act correctly. We have already pointed out the fallacy of disposing of a proposition on the ground that its proponents are unreliable or actuated by bad motives (see #19). Here we deal with the error of confusing self-interest or good intentions with justice and truth.
EXAMPLE COMMENT A dictator addresses a vast audience: "We have done all that we can to keep the peace despite perfidy and insolent provocation. This morning I ordered our army to march on foreign soil, and, God willing, we will right the wrongs which we have too long endured. Our hands are clean. Our aim is justice." The dictator appeals to the audience's willingness to believe in the justice and nobility of their own cause. Practically every modern war exhibits millions of people convinced of the Tightness of the cause which coincides with their self-interest or what they are persuaded to believe is their self-interest. The spectacle is a tribute to cultural conditioning, the efficiency of distorting the news, and the human weakness for assuming that one's own motives and interests must be noble and just.