Deliberation
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Q&A: Achieving Practical Certainty: 18 Aug 2013, Question 1
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Question: What must I do to reach certainty about a course of action? Suppose that I'm being careful in my thinking about a practical matter – perhaps about how to solve a problem at work, whether to move to a new city, whether to marry my girlfriend, or whether to cut contact with a problem friend. When can I say that I'm certain – or at least justified in acting on my conclusions? Given my personality type (INTP), I tend to leave questions open for far too long, when really, at some point, I need to close them. Are there any general guidelines or principles around figuring out what that point of closure should be? Even then, when should I revisit my conclusions, if ever?
Tags: Aristotle, Deliberation, Epistemology, Ethics, Personality, Planning, Psycho-Epistemology, Rationality, Values