Jackson Institute for Global Affairs
Courage in Theory & Practice
Roz Savage
–Napoleon Bonaparte (via Sara)
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
Week 6: Courageous Decision-Making
❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions
❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism
❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy
❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative
Courageous Decision-MakingProactive Decisions
Reactive Decisions
MoralEnergy
MoralApathy
COURAGE
INTEGRITYEXPEDIENCY
GUNG-HO Free Will
Conditioned
Response
Fatalism
Courageous Decision-Making
❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions
❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism
❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy
❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative
Proactive vs Reactive Decisions
Reactive Decisions
❖ Ethical dilemmas (right vs right):❖ Truth vs loyalty❖ Individual vs community❖ Short-term vs long-term❖ Justice vs mercy
Can we predict which will take precedence?
Ways to Break an Ethical Dilemma
❖ Ends-based thinking (utilitarianism, teleological)❖ Greatest good to the greatest number (over the
greatest period of time)❖ Rule-based thinking (Kantian, deontological)
❖ If everybody acted as I am about to act, would that serve the greatest good?
❖ Care-based thinking❖ Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you
Kidder, Rushworth
Was Kidder’s analysis helpful?
Proactive Decisions
Lifetime
Achi
e vem
ent
Courageous life
Average life
Proactive Decisions
Lifetime
Achi
e vem
ent
Inspired by Punctuated Equilibrium, Bryan Jones
SituationalInternal
Courageous life
Which comes first - courage or situation?
Generating Options
We may not have free will, but we have free won’t
When Inspiration Strikes
Questions (from Week 4)❖ Can I do this task? (self-efficacy)❖ Do I want to do this task? (emotional)❖ Why would I want to do this task? (cognitive -
values, purpose)❖ Is this choice likely to arise again? (identity)❖ What is the meaning of undertaking this task?
(worldview, significance, self-transcendence)
BOGUS QUESTION
Courageous Decision-Making
❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions
❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism
❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy
❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative
–Albert Camus
“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
Are your choices also the sum of all your life?
What factors do we take into account when making
decisions?
Thinking Traps
Anchoring
Status Quo (don’t rock the boat)
Sunk Cost
Bounded RationalityTractability
Cogn
itive
Limita
tions Time
Available
(Herbert Simon)
Open Plane = Free Will (achievable?)
Plateaux = Conditioned Response
(Dan Siegel)
Field Theory
B = f(LS) = f(P,E)B = Behaviour LS = Life Space
(aka PsychologicalField)
P = Person (needs, beliefs, values, abilities)
E = Environment
(Kurt Lewin)
Courageous Decision-Making
❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions
❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism
❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy
❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative
We All Have Boundaries❖ Maximum and minimum ideals around:
❖ Food intake❖ Exercise❖ Sleep❖ Working/studying hours❖ Alcohol (etc)
❖ Should we also have a max and min around courage?
Exoskeleton = Boundaries = Laws?
Backbone = Support = Inner Morality?
Exoskeleton vs Spine
Exoskeleton vs Spine
Analyse Your Decision-Making
1. what is the question I am trying to answer? (reframing)
2. assumptions
3. recent factors influencing mindset
4. decision-making centre (head/heart/gut, or intuition/intellect)
5. relevant values
6. similar decision likely to arise again (identity)
7. information available
8. time constraints
9. advisors/stakeholders consulted, why you chose them, what they said
10.risks and fears currently perceived
11.best case scenario as currently perceived
12.worst case scenario as currently perceived (including opportunity cost)
13.final decision
14.date to review your decision, how to evaluate success
Emergency Reactive Decision Making
❖ Strengths❖ Weaknesses❖ Opportunities❖ Threats
–Peter Senge
“People with high levels of personal mastery… cannot afford to choose between reason and
intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one
eye.”
Would we ever want to delegate decision-making to AI?
(ref driverless cars)
Courageous Decision-Making
❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions
❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism
❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy
❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative
–Margaret Thatcher to George H. W. Bush, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990
“Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly.”
–Denholm Elliott
“Surprise yourself every day with your own courage.”
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