• Yohan
    679
    As someone who has struggled with doubt in decision making, I have thought and searched for a reliable way to tell if a decision is self benefitting or self sabotaging.

    This is a formula I refined based on such:
    When in doubt, ask:
    Is this good doubt saving me from a bad decision?
    Or is this bad doubt stopping me from a good decision?

    My sense is, probably everyone has experienced both types of doubts and situations, and obeyed both types of doubts in those types of situations.
    So there are reference points to refer to.

    There is, to me at least, a very distinct sort of vibe between good and bad doubt. But, fear can make me doubt the vibe. But, when the good doubt vibe is paired with the bad decision vibe, there is a harmony between them. They clarify and reinforce each other, making it easier to trust, especially when one harmonious pair is contrasted to the opposite harmonious pair.

    Part of this idea is based on the idea that formulas, principles, whatever, are tools to refine and hone instinct. I think in the end, instinct is always what decides, and the art of thinking well is the art of eliminating obstructions to instinctual knowledge.

    Am I wrong? Either in the epistemological method or in the proposition that instinct alone gives knowledge of good and bad?

    I'm afraid that my thought process is or sounds silly or loony, but I'm going with it anyway, based on using this formula for making decisions.

    Thanks for reading and happy weekend
  • Gnomon
    3.8k
    As someone who has struggled with doubt in decision making, I have thought and searched for a reliable way to tell if a decision is self benefitting or self sabotaging.Yohan
    Skepticism is essential for both Science and Philosophy. But practitioners must be careful not to hobble their reasoning with self-doubt. It's a balancing act, hovering between Gullibility and Cynicism. I haven't read the article below. But it's just an example to show that you are not the only one to have doubts about Doubt. :smile:

    Skepticism : self sabotaging :
    http://www.lifestrategies.net/self-sabotage/articles-on-self-sabotage/the-power-in-skepticism/
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Schneider's first rank symptoms of schizophrenia

    1. 3rd person auditory hallucinations
    .
    .
    4. Ambivalence (inability to decide)

    [From an old book (probably obsolete now) on psychiatry I read around 2 decades ago]

    Doubt, though debilitating in the way the OP has outlined, has a silver lining - it forces us to think about how we can/may improve the decision making process or proofs. It can be considered a litmus test of sorts or a gauntlet through which all decisions/proofs have to pass - only the best will survive, albeit battered and bruised. Don't we all want the best? :chin: :brow:
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