From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu May 22 2003 - 11:18:49 MDT
Samantha wrote:
>On Wednesday 14 May 2003 07:42 am, Charles Hixson wrote:
><deleted>
>
>
> ...
>
>Some decisions are binary on at least there surface. Should we
>invade/have invaded Iraq? Yes or No? Why is a much more complex
>question to ask and answer. I don't think it is a manner of the
>number of choices but of the quality of the thinking and explanations
>involved and most importantly of keeping enough respect/civility to
>listen to one another.
>
There are quite rarely only two choices. E.g., "Yes, No, Wait a bit
longer to decide" is a simple rephrasal of the answers "Should we
invade?". A real consideration would have a variety of different
options. (My preference is still a bounty posted on not only Saddam,
but also on the heads of his government departments, and all supervisors
and higher in his tax collection agency. It's bad, but you would injure
fewer innocents than a war would. And they *were* supporting an evil
tyrant.) If it's "Should we have invaded?" (which is going to involve
second-guessing) then Yes or No could be extended to include "We should
have done it differently", and "We should have done something else" (I'm
interpreting No as meaning "We shouldn't have gotten involved", but
there are clearly lots of other possible meanings.)
>I don't get the bit about needing to adopt an agenda/platform to back
>one's decision on a question. I do not do so but only attempt to
>choose among alternatives with what information, thinking and values
>I can manage to bring to bear. Perhaps I am naive to assume this is
>true of most people here.
>- samantha
>
One doesn't exactly adopt an agenda to back one's decision. One makes
one's decision in conformance with one's agenda, and reflecting one's
knowledge of the situation. This moves one to a new place which is
likely to alter the agenda, so the decision, if remade, is likely to be
different. Part of this is different information being present, and
part of it is that the new position provides different opportunities for
action.
-- -- Charles Hixson Gnu software that is free, The best is yet to be.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu May 22 2003 - 11:29:14 MDT