A giant philosophical argument in a little bitty box: Matthew Yglesias asserts that “It just doesn’t matter why Bush does what Bush does or Frist does what Frist does or Matt does what Matt does. What matters is what we do and whether those are good or bad things.”

Indefatigable liberal and Arrow Shirt model Kevin Drum takes issue with this:

Trying to deduce people’s real motivations is absolutely central to all human activity. We talk about it, we think about it, we argue about it, and we make most of our decisons based on it. We fight or follow people based on our assessment of what they really think. We applaud or denigrate the exact same actions depending on whether we think they were made for the right reasons.

Motivation is the key to everything. Actions come in a poor second.

I think this is exactly right. Note that Drum isn’t claiming this is the optimal way to think; merely that it is, in fact, the way we think.

We think in stories. We make narratives; when we need to, we impose them. And we need to a lot. [11:38 AM]