On Making Hard Choices

This TED Talk by Rutgers University philosopher Ruth Chang comes recommended by L. A. Paul. Chang argues that when it comes to big decisions, especially those involving transformative experiences, we think about them in the wrong way. We shouldn’t think that the world of value can be measured and compared in the same way as the physical world. Some options are not strictly better or worse than others, on the whole. In many choices, one option is better in some ways and another option is better in other ways, but they can’t be easily compared. They are, in Chang’s terminology, on a par with one another…they are in the same neighborhood of value. So, how do we make such choices? We exercise our normative agency. We make reasons.