In Praise of Idleness -Bertrand Russell

Reliance upon reason, as thus defined, assumes a certain community of interest and outlook between oneself and one's audience. It is true that Mrs. Bond tried it on her ducks when she cried, 'come and be killed for you must be stuffed and my customers filled'; but in general the appeal to reason is thought ineffetive with those whom we mean to devour. Those who believe in eating meat do not attempt to find arguments which would seem valid to a sheep.....

As the political constituency grows larger and more heterogeneous, the appeal to reason becomes more difficult, since there are fewer universally conceded assumptions from which agreement can start. When such assumptions cannot be found, men are driven to rely upon their own intuitions: and since the intuitions among different groups differ, reliance upon them leads to strife.....