This is my response to many people who justify conduct that seems immoral on utilitarian grounds. ‘The greater good’, ‘pragmatism’ and those other terms under which great wrongs are done.
I object not because these arguments are based on reason and not feeling, but because they are both unreasonable and unfeeling. Instead of rationally proving that, say, the trickle down effect works, they boldly assert rationalism without displaying it. Likewise, the madness that was the arms race masqueraded as rationalism while being nothing of the sort.
When we are faced with difficult decisions, we must use reason to find the answer. Absolutely. But the compassionate approach is rarely the unreasonable one.