If I choose door number one, the consequences on a scale of one to five – five being the worst - would be a five – for the other person involved.
If I choose door number two, the consequences would be a five for ME.
Both doors lead to levels of negative consequences. Which one is the worse choice? Do I sacrifice the other or myself when a sacrifice is necessary?
This may seem a no brainer but the anguish is that if the right choice isn’t made, everything I’ve worked for has greater possibility of falling apart and I clearly have no way to forsee the outcome of either choice other than via my logical and creative imagination to provide me with possibilities – none of which might ever happen! Both could be just as much the right choice as the wrong choice. So really, the entire future of any decision is nothing more than a goddam gamble. If that’s the case, why think at all? Just run with that gut feeling and hope for the best??
I can’t remember ever asking to experience the need to apply ethical theories in my own life. I just wanted to learn about them and apply them to society. Of course, it’s inevitable that I use them myself but this is like an advanced form of ethical reasoning that I’m not sure my brain is capable of. I haven’t gotten this far in the game and now… I’m stumped. I’m the undergrad dealing with PhD pressure with the added complication of seeing the entire situation totally out of the box of how it’s supposed to be viewed. Social reasoning would suggest door number two. I don’t credit social reasoning too much yet at what level is social reasoning reasonable versus not?
Society on the whole has become so disappointing. There’s nothing I trust of it but surely some of its reasoning must be right. Humanity hasn’t killed itself off yet.
UPDATE::::::::
Thoughtful analysis brought the realization that there really is no bad concequence when the situation itself is already bad. Therefore, worse is merely perception. I’m choosing door number 3, a door that didn’t show up earlier but now it’s there. I have no idea what lies beyond it and that’s exactly the reason I’m taking it. Good, bad, better or worse. I’m choosing my own adventure and I’m following my intuition. I have yet to discover my intiution as a wrong choice. Complicated, chaotic, ethically challenging and WTF-ish but that doesn’t necessarily equate to wrong. That’s just human drama.
