How to make a better choice?

Question

When it comes to making a choice (especially big decisions) people usually go back and forth. Sometimes even remaining in a state of indecision for a long time. So my questions:

How to make a better choice?
How to know your choice is the right one?
Are there any signs which can show that you are making the right choice?

Set a limit on how much information and analysis you will do to make your decision. There is probably also some free app or whatever the young people use today to help you cluster visually your interests, what things do you enjoy etc.. Try to make your decision in that general direction. — Gordon, Apr 01 '18 at 11:55
The question of indecision for a long time is very important. You could be conflicted by something. This is a great time to see a counselor/ mental health professional for "preventive maintenance". They can be very good helping you to sort these issues out. — Gordon, Apr 01 '18 at 12:02
@Gordon, your proposition about OCD is a real guess. You can't either know OP's IQ or have any info about their life to say this. — rus9384, Apr 01 '18 at 22:16
@rus9384 Thanks. While I don't completely agree with how you characterize my comment, I nevertheless decided to delete it because I don't want there to be any misunderstanding. — Gordon, Apr 02 '18 at 04:34
Why do you feel indecision is a bad way to make a choice? I ask because many approaches to questions do indeed remain indecisive until they finally become decisive, in response to some stimulus. — Cort Ammon, Apr 03 '18 at 23:02
Does this answer your question? [How do you progress in self-learning Critical Thinking, after completing an introductory textbook?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/30572/how-do-you-progress-in-self-learning-critical-thinking-after-completing-an-intr) — User, Feb 06 '23 at 09:43

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 10:56

Since this question is too broad I can only show a word just as a torch light to show your path.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma

The complexity in choosing one is shown in the following link.

Logical reasoning is not without bias(assumptions),
vedic revelations are numerous, not one wisemen's thesis
can be accepted as facts, truely the essence of right
conduct is a very subtle secret.  So the only recourse is
walk in the footsteps of great men.

See for reference: https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_vaakyasangraha/vaakyaexamples.html?lang=sa

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 14:52

The field theory by Kurt Lewin explains why some choices take longer than others.

Choosing among a fixed known sets of alternatives has many trivial methods, such as making Lists of pro and contra arguments, sleeping over it, discussing with others, and so on.

More interesting is the choice among a number of choices too large to investigate. Like choosing a new flat to live in or a job. Clearly you cannot try them all nor keep waiting for years before choosing. In that case some research showed the first good candidate should be skipped and the next best choice should be taken, this gave the best expected value statistically in a number of situations.

If you talk about life choices like aborting or not, marrying or not, doing a drug trial to try to escape cancer and such... mostly you have to accept that you will never know whether a choice was better than the alternative.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 17:17

Whatever choices make now always depend on earlier choices(and their outcomes) we tend to use earlier knowledge to minimize bad and maximize good choices. [learnt choices]
There are some choices which are in a sense "predetermined" like your interests and hobbies or choosing jazz over rock . [innate choices]

By nature humans(with no exception) are and always will be aligned towards achieving a more satisfying, more rewarding life.For some people rock is more satisfying and for some jazz is more satisfying.For some working for charity is more rewarding and for some making business is more rewarding. These choices might depend on some predetermined configuration ( genetics, peers etc) or they can be purely random

Other choices like whether to take Job A or Job B will depend on you own interest in that job, the emoluments, the city you will be working in.You might choose Job A cause the emoluments are great. You might chose Job B cause your partner already lives in there.

So to answer

How to make a better choice?

Knowledge can help you make choices that are "good enough" but you cannot make better choices because you really don't know you candidates in absolute detail there is and always will be something that you might miss, foreseeing everything is not under human capability. You can make these (hypothetical) better choice only if you can see the whole future timeline (without affecting it) of all possible choices; funny enough now that you know everything there is no choice because now you are bound and would be selecting the best one only!

How to know your choice is the right one?

If you feel your beliefs are aligned with the choices, you are achieving something with the choices you made and you don't see any major harm on the way then you must be on the right track.

Are there any signs which can show that you are making the right choice?

Same as above, choice is an old issue in philosophy many ideas exists but in the end you just need to ask yourself.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 03 '18 at 21:51

Since no one mentioned it so far, decision theory is a vast field. Only in limited circumstances one can know that a choice is optimal. In many real life circumstances, Knightian uncertainty prevents one from even having a (single) probability estimate for future events. Furthemore, cognitive limitations lead to heuristics such as satisficing.

How to make a better choice?

4 Answers4