Quick, Decide!

Why do you take the decisions you normally do?

Reasoning and decision making are two of the most important activities in which humans engage. But we don’t always do so in the best manner. When we don’t, the consequences can range from minor inconvenience to catastrophic loss.

How to be better decision-makers, resolve dilemmas and use logic in our day-to-day life will be the focus of the next few columns. This week’s column is designed to provoke you, make you think and respond with your solutions to dilemmas that I will present.

The word ‘dilemma’ (from the Greek “double proposition”) denotes a problem that offers at least two solutions or possibilities, both or all of which are equally unfavorable.

Dilemmas create conflict in practically all aspects of our personal lives - moral, ethical, professional, social, etc.

What is painful about a dilemma is that one has to make a choice one does not want to make.
For many years now, in my workshops, I have been sharing, what I call, Duryodhan’s Duvidha (Dilemma) from the Mahabharata:

Jaanami dharmam na chamee pravritii
Jaanami adharmam na chamee nivritii

I know what is right, But I have no attraction for it.
I know what is wrong, But I cannot give it up.

The Greek dramatist Euripides portrayed Medea’s state of mind before she kills her own children thus: “I know what evil I am about to do. My irrational self is stronger than my resolution.”

While St. Paul is perplexed with the thought “I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do & I find myself doing the very things I hate.”

Do their words strike a chord? On a very simple level,  we know regular exercise is good for us but... we know smoking is bad for our health yet... Ofcourse there are far more complicated dilemmas that we have to deal with, especially when personal relationships or ethical issues are involved.  To help you think about how you can resolve them, let’s look at some classical dilemmas.
 
DILEMMA 1
A group of children is playing near two railway tracks, one still in use, the other disused. Only one child is playing on the disused track, the rest on the used one.

Suddenly you see a train coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would mean the one child playing by the disused track may die. Are you ready for that... or would you rather let the train go its way?

DILEMMA 2
This one was posed by Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) a well-known theorist in the field of moral development.
 
Scenario 1
A woman is suffering from a unique kind of cancer. There is a drug that might save her but it costs $4,000 per dose. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, goes to everyone he knows to borrow the money and tries every legal means to do so, but he can collect about $2,000. He asks the scientist who discovered the drug for a discount or let him pay later. But the scientist refuses.

Dilemma: Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

Scenario 2
Heinz breaks into the laboratory and steals the drug. The next day, the newspapers report the break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a friend of Heinz remembers seeing Heinz the earlier evening near the laboratory and later that night, running away from the laboratory.

Dilemma: Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

Scenario 3
Officer Brown reports what he saw. Heinz is arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail. Heinz is found guilty.

Dilemma:  Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or why not?
What kind decisions would you take in Dilemmas 1 and 2?

Email me your specific responses at graymatter@hindustantimes.com. Your answers could reveal a lot to you about yourself. I will explain next week.

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Thought for the Week

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time;  
what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”
Sydney J. Harris
(American Journalist and Author 1917-1986)
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First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times