I’m not entirely convinced. If Quirrell has a weakness (note, I did say “if”), then it’s his lack of empathy with children, and especially Muggle-born children. Harry is able to consistently surprise him (f.ex. in Azkaban, or by cheering him up at the end of the bully saga, etc.), and I didn’t get the impression that this is because Harry is some sort of an uber-outlier. He’s an outlier, yes, but he’s still a human kid.
This weakness probably stems from Quirrell’s cynicism, which a few characters have already commented upon. Qurrell subconsciously assumes that everyone is acting like a perfectly rational agent that attempts to maximize its own expected utility by enhancing its power to manipulate external reality (which occasionally includes other actors). In Quirrell’s subset of the world, this assumption is quite often correct, but most real people—such as Hermione—do not, in fact, act that way all of (or even most of) the time.
Qurrell subconsciously assumes that everyone is acting like a perfectly rational agent that attempts to maximize its own expected utility by enhancing its power to manipulate external reality
He definitely doesn’t think so consciously; one of his more memorable quotes is something along the lines of “The main thing ordinary people do, Mr. Potter, is nothing”.
Ok, that’s true. Instead of saying “everyone”, I should’ve said “everyone who is not beneath his notice, except perhaps in aggregate”. I doubt that Quirrell counts Harry or Hermione as members of the “ordinary people” set.
I’m not entirely convinced. If Quirrell has a weakness (note, I did say “if”), then it’s his lack of empathy with children, and especially Muggle-born children. Harry is able to consistently surprise him (f.ex. in Azkaban, or by cheering him up at the end of the bully saga, etc.), and I didn’t get the impression that this is because Harry is some sort of an uber-outlier. He’s an outlier, yes, but he’s still a human kid.
This weakness probably stems from Quirrell’s cynicism, which a few characters have already commented upon. Qurrell subconsciously assumes that everyone is acting like a perfectly rational agent that attempts to maximize its own expected utility by enhancing its power to manipulate external reality (which occasionally includes other actors). In Quirrell’s subset of the world, this assumption is quite often correct, but most real people—such as Hermione—do not, in fact, act that way all of (or even most of) the time.
He definitely doesn’t think so consciously; one of his more memorable quotes is something along the lines of “The main thing ordinary people do, Mr. Potter, is nothing”.
Ok, that’s true. Instead of saying “everyone”, I should’ve said “everyone who is not beneath his notice, except perhaps in aggregate”. I doubt that Quirrell counts Harry or Hermione as members of the “ordinary people” set.