The Law of the Instrument

When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

When Abraham Kaplan formulated his law of the instrument back in 1964, the concept was already an old one. People understood the idea intuitively—that you could fall into a sort of trap if you only had one tool handy, and the real danger was not considering that there could be other ways of dealing with a situation.

The law of the instrument pervades virtually every aspect of our lives. Some of these cases are easy for us to see: if your doctor is a surgeon, you’re probably going to be somewhat skeptical when she suggests you go under the knife next week.

Similarly, if you ask a chef whose specialty is Italian cuisine to throw a quick meal together for you, you’re not likely to be surprised to taste lots of garlic and olive oil.

Sometimes the law of the instrument is less visible, though, at least at the time.

One place where the law of the instrument is on display is in the field of sports. If a competitor has had…