Week 1_ Hard Choices Assignment (2)
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School
University of Utah *
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Course
1010
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by ericmason8133
(1) Describe a hard choice that you have had to make in your own life. What made it a
hard choice?
A hard choice I’ve had to make was the decision to take a gap semester spring of 2022
because I needed to take a break from school for my mental health and just work or stay in
classes and keep working on top of that. What made this a hard choice was if I stayed in school I
would be working 25-30 hours on top of a full load of classes and be very stressed and cramped
on time, but I would stay ahead in school and graduate on time whereas if I took a gap semester I
would fall behind in school and have to take an extra semester of classes and my family would
be concerned that I wouldn’t go back to school, but I would be able to work more without the
stress of being in school at the time and enjoy taking a break from school for the semester.
(2) Do you think that philosophy can help one to understand hard choices and how to
resolve them?
I do think philosophy can help someone understand hard choices and how to resolve
them. Philosophical reasoning can help an individual think critically about one's values, beliefs,
and priorities, which can lead to a deeper understanding of ones motivations.
(3) According to Ruth Chang, what is the most "widely accepted" explanation of what
makes hard choices hard?
According to Chang, the most "widely accepted" explanation of what makes hard choices
hard is Ignorance or the uncertainty of the normative factors that are relevant to making the
choice. I could relate this to my hard choice in #1 because I didn’t know what to expect of
myself and what my family would think of me when not in school, but I decided to take that risk
and it worked out well for me, and I’ve been back taking classes since this past summer semester
of 2023.
(4) Why does Chang think that the widely accepted explanation of hard choices fails in at
least some cases?
Chang believes that hard choices open up a new way of thinking about what it is to be a
rational agent. “The lesson here is that it can be something about the way the alternatives relate
to one another and not something about us that explains the hardness of a hard choice.” CHANG,
R. (2017). Hard choices.
Journal of the American Philosophical Association
,
3
(1), 5–5.
https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.7
(5) Write down one question you have so far about Chang's article.
Why is there “a sense in which our reasons for choice run out” when making hard
decisions? Wouldn’t one choice in a decision inevitably be more beneficial or smarter to make
than another if you went through every single factor in your knowledge?
CHANG, R. (2017). Hard choices.
Journal of the American Philosophical Association
,
3
(1),
16–16.
https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.7
References:
-
CHANG, R. (2017a). Hard choices.
Journal of the American Philosophical Association
,
3
(1), 1–21.
https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.7
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