December 12, 2017, by apyrd

The Life-Changing Magic of Non-Rational Decisions

The open days are in full swing across the University.  There are hundreds of events giving you a taste of just how great it is to study – and be a student – at Notts.

I headed down to the Philosophy Department to listen to Laurie Paul’s lecture all about life-changing decisions.  

It got me thinking about the kind of decision that faces any prospective student – which university to choose! So, I thought I’d share two things I learnt from the lecture.

 

1. Surprise, surprise there are no crystal balls in life

It seems obvious that before making a life-changing decision there is a state of knowledge which is utterly inaccessible to you.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve done something similar or how much someone tells you, there are things that you just cannot know until you experience them.

Imagine deciding whether to permanently move abroad for example.  Apparently these decisions involve TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES.

They create a small problem though because they stop you from weighing up the outcomes of each act in a decision.

But if I can’t weigh up its outcomes then how can I make the decision, I hear you cry.

 

 

2. Ignore your head, follow your heart

Well. . . forget rationality because if you can’t weigh up the outcomes, then the decision is neither rational nor irrational. 

Instead it turns out that decisions which involve transformative experiences are non-rational!  Yes, this means that you can’t make a decision which changes your life rationally.

Mind. Blown.

What’s the moral of the story? As you attempt to decide whether to study at Nottingham, remember that it is a decision which will transform you.  No amount of statistics or league tables can prepare you for what it’s like to study at Nottingham.

So relax, choose Nottingham and it’ll be fine.

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