Hanlon's razor

Hanlon's Razor is an eponymous adage that reads:

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

This particular form is attributed to a Robert J. Hanlon. However, earlier utterances that convey basically the same idea are known.

Origins and similar quotations

The quotation first came from Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to his friend Joseph Bigler, as a submission for a book compilation of various jokes related to Murphy's law published in 1980 entitled Murphy's Law Book Two, More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong.^[1] The name was inspired by Occam's razor.^[2]

A similar quotation appears in Robert A. Heinlein's 1941 short story "Logic of Empire" ("You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity"); this was noticed in 1996 (five years before Bigler identified the Robert J. Hanlon citation) and first referenced in version 4.0.0 of the Jargon File,^[3] with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor". "Heinlein's Razor" has since been defined as variations on Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.^[4] Yet another similar epigram ("Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence") has been widely attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.^[5] Another similar quote appears in Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774): "...misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent."

A common (and more laconic) British English variation, coined by Sir Bernard Ingham, is the saying "cock-up before conspiracy", deriving from this quotation:

Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory.

—Sir Bernard Ingham^[6]

See also

• Clarke's three laws
• Finagle's law
• Occam's razor
• Sturgeon's Law
• List of eponymous laws
• Razor (philosophy)

References

1. ^ In an e-mail to Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Joseph E. Bigler wrote that Robert J. Hanlon was a real person and did indeed invent this quotation. This is followed up by a later note that refers to Murphy's Law Book Two, Wrong Reasons Why Things Go More (ISBN 0-417-06450-0); not to be confused with Murphy's Law #2 (ISBN 0-8431-0674-3). The publisher of these books, Price Stern Sloan, was acquired by Putnam Berkley Group (Penguin Group (USA) History) in 1993.
2. ^ Giancarlo Livraghi, Il potere della stupidità, Monti & Ambrosini, Pescara, Italy, 2004, p. 1
3. ^ http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon-upd.lst^{[dead link]}
4. ^ This quotation is attributed to Albert Einstein in Peter Singer's 2009 book "Wired for War" (ISBN 1594201986) on pg. 434
5. ^ "Napoleon I on Incompetence - Quotation - MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqT8DBL. 
6. ^ Galvin, Nick (September 1 2009). "Case of a misplaced point". Brisbane Times. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/case-of-a-misplaced-point-20090901-f5zj.html. Retrieved 11 January 2010. 

External links

• Jargon File entry for "Hanlon's Razor"