 Perhaps a more promising account of what it might mean for manipulation to bypass reason would construe manipulation as an influence that is covert in a way that allows it to bypass reason. Certainly, if an influence is covert and thus escapes one’s notice, then it would also seem to escape any conscious reasoning process. An early version of the idea that manipulation is best characterized as covert influence was suggested by the political theorist Alan Ware (1981). Ware characterizes manipulation as an influence on the target which is covert in the sense that the target lacks knowledge or understanding of how she is being influenced.