The same reduction occurs when we imagine the enemy as ''irrational.'' Irrational actors are by
definition without rhyme or reason, and there's no point in reasoning about them on the way to
fighting them. The better course is to think of these men as bearers of a rationality we reject
because its goal is our destruction. If we take the trouble to understand that rationality, we
might have a better chance of figuring out what its adherents will do next and preventing it.