Decision time: should you go to university?

The decision to go to university can be a tricky one. Fear not, I attended a philosophy lecture which shed light on making decisions and got me thinking about that all important question. Here is a taste of what went on.. Let’s talk rationality Most of us want to be rational in our everyday lives.  Normally …

Can we really make rational decisions?

 3 Things I learned from Laurie Paul’s lecture  1. Making a rational decision is simple First we decide what would be result on the best outcome and make a decision according to our favourite outcome. If I want to eat Nutella on toast I weigh up the benefits of eating Nutella over opting for a …

Laurie Paul’s Challenge To How We Make Big Decisions

Ever made a big decision? Make it thinking the decision you made was rational? This seems like something we’ve all done. However, I recently sat in on a Philosophy lecture at the University of Nottingham in which Laurie Paul challenged the way we make big decisions! 1.How We Normally Make Decisions When we make decisions …

Deciding whether to have a baby? – Well, you can’t!

Have you ever thought about how and why we make decisions? What influences our decision making? And can we trust our ability to make decisions? #LauriePaul philosopher and academic believes there are certain are decisions we cannot rationally make. These decisions are so life changing and incomparable with other life experiences that you cannot make a …

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 …

You’ve Been Making Non-Rational Decisions!

After attending Andy Fisher’s lecture today, I had an unsettling realisation: I’ve been making non-rational decisions. My decision to study Philosophy at university? Non-rational. My decision to try Marmite for the first time? Yes, you guessed it, non-rational. That’s because, as L.A. Paul argues, many of the decisions we make can’t be made rationally – …

Decisions, Decisions: Can We Really Decide?

Today I was in a lecture exploring Laurie Paul’s ideas on making decisions.1 She argues that sometimes we can’t use our rationality to decide things (seems weird… but bear with me). If you think that you rationally decided to get your new kitten, or to go travelling… Think again. Intrigued? Here are the top 3 …

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…

Another day, another lecture- although thankfully this one was at the much more civilised time of 2PM, rather than 9 AM, which as student is compulsory to complain about. Today’s lecture was on Laurie Paul’s theory of TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES. Rational vs Irrational: First,  rational vs irrational decisions and normative decision theory. When facing a dilemma …

Protected: So, you think you can make a rational decision?

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How Philosophy can Help you Make Decisions

Everyone knows that you can always make rational decisions. Right? Last week I sat in on a lecture that convinced me otherwise. 1. What is a rational decision? Rational decisions seem complicated. However they’re actually very simple. All you have to do is choose the action that you think will lead to the best outcome. …