How many jellybeans? 
David Runciman
- Profiles, Probabilities and Stereotypes by Frederick Schauer
- The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few by James Surowiecki
Most of us, most of the time, are deeply prejudiced in favour of individual over collective judgments. This is hardly surprising, since we are all biased. First, we are biased in favour of our own opinions, which we tend to prefer to those of anyone else. Second, we are biased in favour of individuals generally, because we are all individuals ourselves, and so are broadly sympathetic to the individual point of view. We like to think of people exercising their personal judgment, and not just blindly following the rules. For example, who wouldn’t prefer, when appearing before a judge, to learn that the judge was willing to hear each case on its merits, and exercise some discretion if necessary? General rules, we think, are likely to be discriminatory, because they cannot take account of special circumstances. Individuals, by contrast, can use their own judgment, and make exceptions.
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David Runciman teaches politics at Cambridge. He is the author of Pluralism and the Personality of the State, The Politics of Good Intentions and Political Hypocrisy.
Other articles by this contributor:
Invented Communities · post-nationalism
The Garden, the Park and the Meadow · After the Nation State
This Way to the Ruin · the British Constitution
The Precautionary Principle · Taking a Chance on War
Oh, the curse! · David Runciman hits a home run
Cricket’s Superpowers · Beyond the Ashes
Diary · The Problem with English Football
Tax Breaks for Rich Murderers · Bush and the ‘Death Tax’
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