Human, all too human: Human fallibility and the separation of powers

Introduction:Humans are fallible - and this fallibility is the hardest thing for us to grasp. We havelimited knowledge - and the limits of our knowledge routinely prevent us fromrealising just how much we do not know. Our reasoning processes are prone tovarious forms of distortion and bias - and these distortions and biases often cause usto overlook our own partiality. We are prone to favour familiar people and conceptsover the unfamiliar - and our lack of understanding of other viewpoints preventsus from realising the ways in which we marginalise them. We are susceptible totemptations that lead us to go against our conscience - and these temptations alsoprovide incentives not to scrutinise our behaviour.