At one point I had a quote from Herodotus where he stated that a decision is not wise or foolish because the result was good or ill, but whether what was known when making the decision justified the course of action chosen. I seem to be unable to reproduce it. Anybody know what it is or where to look without slogging through tons of material?
BTW, I’m quite confident it was Herodotus, but if you know it was someone else, please say so.
“A decision was wise, even though it led to disastrous consequences, if the evidence at hand indicated it was the best one to make; and a decision was foolish, even though it led to the happiest possible consequences, if it was unreasonable to expect those consequences.”
The Histories, Ch.7, I think – discussion about the Kings of Persia.
How apt, given yesterday’s news…
jjimm:
Curious: Do you mean by this comment that this applies to Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, or to Saddam’s decision to boastfully play the Middle-East badass even though he ultimately had nothing more dangerous than a conventional army?
Well it’d have to be the former, since both Saddam’s bluffing and the outcome for him were bad - therefore the situation isn’t covered in Herodotus’s epigram. Whereas Bush’s reasons for the war have turned out to be incorrect, but the capture of Saddam is a good thing. IMO, of course!
I have deleted my humble opinion, for the good of the board. :I