Should we base our choices on past experiences? If we do that, are we really making a TRUE choice? Or can/should we/I choose something just because THAT is what I CHOOSE???
2006-09-22 17:05:50 · 14 answers · asked by jennilaine777 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Our choices are normally based on our opportunities and our desires. You might think of some of those desires as values.
In order to make a choice we must first have a choice to make. Absent any limitations our choices are infinite. Time of course is the first and greatest limitation we face. You can only make a choice once. If you repeat that choice it will not be the same action as your opportunities have been limited by your last choice. You kind of have to look at this subject as you would statistics. They are similar in their mathematical forms. After time phenomenal limitations like supply and demand come into play, so does preference, and so on.
You used the word true which is philosophical terms means certain. There is no such thing as a certain choice. that is almost an oxymoron, like military intelligence. There is always a degree of risk in choice, a degree of uncertainty. Like Blakes poem there is a road and a road less travelled by and the choice makes all the difference.
Perhaps, this is where I actually begin to answer your question. Experience is normally what people use to narrow down their choices in life and make their decisions. In this situation making a decision is picking one of the choices available to you. Anyway, there are too schools of thought on using experience to make your decisions. The empiracists believe that using experience is the only way to make a good choice. It has a lot to do with Democritus' pleasure pain theory that good is pleasure and bad is pain and that a wise person seeks pleasure and avoids pain. The existentialist, on the other hand think that experience is sensory and can not help you to make the optimal choice therefore it might be better to look for some sort of categorical imperative to guide you in these matters what ever they may be. (No Kant is not a true existentialist.) But, his thoughts strattle the line between the two schools of thought. Descartes would be more existential. Spinoza would be more empiracist.
Logic, tends to suggest that choices have to be made by experience. The thought trail goes from a given that is normally sensory based to a conclusion that is reason based. But, without the given, you can never reach the conclusion.
I hope this all made sense. I tried to cover it from both a philosophical as well as a practical approach but I am not certain which one you wanted. This read like a morality question at first and then like a logic question in hind sight. Morally speaking you are not bound by experience. Logically speaking, you are.
2006-09-23 00:58:13 · answer #1 · answered by LORD Z 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Never choose something just because that is what you choose. Choices should be made with thoughtful consideration because the results of your choice will be with you the rest of your life. You should defintely base decisions on what you've learned from past experiences. Weigh the pros and cons, research the matter before making a final choice. And if you still feel undecided, go with gut feeling, guidance from inner or higher self, conscience, intuition - all of which will save your bacon over and over again if you pay attention.
2006-09-23 03:13:31 · answer #2 · answered by LadyLgl 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Inform yourself take a moment and meditate then, stay in silence and follow what your heart says you should do. Without a doubt your past experiences and choices have form who you are today and of of course they will have in some level always something to do with the decisions you take today, the real question is when you are making that present choice are you still hooked up on past FEELINGS,a re you dragging them still with you to the present or have you let go of all that and just has taken the learning experience of past situations???
Good luck and trust your heart ...
2006-09-23 00:14:06 · answer #3 · answered by wanna_help_u 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
"I choose" can be influenced by prejudices and bias opinions ... but has the support of a strong emotion.
Temper any "belief" statement with a bit of proof. Isolated experiences and quotes from celebrities should not be enough to base a life-style change on.
"B-B-But Bill Clinton said .. " doesn't hold much weight for me in philosophical arguments
2006-09-23 00:20:15 · answer #4 · answered by wizebloke 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I try to base my choices on what the outcome of each possibility can be....then, maybe past experience as well. I also go by my gut feeling.
In general, I do not think it's possible to say which is the best way for making choices for everybody.
2006-09-23 00:14:57 · answer #5 · answered by cafegrrrl 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
By all means, make your choice. But if you have past experiences to tell you otherwise, why go against it (knowing what the results will be from past experiences). Past experiences are there to help us to make better decisions the next time the similar situations happen. If you still insist (stubborn :-), make your decision and the results and consequences are YOURS!
2006-09-23 00:24:26 · answer #6 · answered by TK 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The true choise is that which you choose, if you do not have doubts, otherwise all choises would be wrong...In fact we do not have unlimited choises, for we may choose only one...Free choise is only when you are not choosing. Once you choose you'll be restricted (not free) by your choise whether it goes good or bad... The basis is your confidence and belief in yourself. That is only rules of a game called Free Will.
2006-09-23 00:55:11 · answer #7 · answered by Oleg B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A choice based upon the past -- examples: advice, personal experience, or written code -- would be considered habitual, customary, or conventional. A decision which is made without regard to the past is by definition arbitrary. People make arbitrary decisions all the time. Sometimes they prove to be profitable, edifying, or fun. Sometimes they are stupid. Sometimes they are profitable, edifying, fun, and stupid all at the same time.
But frankly, I am not confident I understand your question.
2006-09-23 00:26:26 · answer #8 · answered by wendell b 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Experience certainly does count, but the need of the hour and place would be the deciding factors. The truth changes with time and place.
2006-09-23 11:49:27 · answer #9 · answered by No Saint 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Past experiencees are partial base.But your depth of knowledge
about subject(any related matter) useful for true choice
2006-09-23 05:25:37 · answer #10 · answered by san 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋