Decision making

Decision making is both an ethical and moral problem.

Economists, philosophers and theologians are very much concerned with how decisions are to be made.

** article under construction **

Benjamin Franklin's "Moral Algebra"

When considering an important decision

draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper
label one column "Pro" and the other "Con"
think it over for 3 or 4 days
and list reasons and motives for and against the decision
once collected, "estimate their respective Weights"
- i.e., estimate the value of each pro or con
then cross them out according to their equal "weights"
- two Pros might be equal to three Cons, thus cross those out
after "weighting" (seeking reasons of equal value), you will be left with your "determination", or answer

Franklin called this "Moral or Prudential Algebra," which he described to a friend, Joseph Priestly, in a letter of Sept 19, 1772:

In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you what to determine, but if you please I will tell you how. When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons pro and con are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us. To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons con equal to some three Reasons pro, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And tho’ the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra.

https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1772-09-19&s=1111311111&r=1