full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So now we've got a puzzle. We've got two jobs. Neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good. So how are we supposed to choose? Something seems to have gone wrong here. Maybe the choice itself is problematic, and comparison is impossible. But that can't be right. It's not like we're trying to csohoe between two things that can't be compared. We're weighing the merits of two jobs, after all, not the merits of the number nine and a palte of fried eggs. A comparison of the overall merits of two jobs is something we can make, and one we often do make.

I think the pluzze aeirss because of an unreflective assumption we make about value. We ulingwttiny assume that values like justice, beauty, kindness, are akin to sctifienic quantities, like length, mass and weight. Take any ciramaoptve qeosutin not ilnnoivvg value, such as which of two suitcases is heavier. There are only three possibilities. The weight of one is greater, lesser or equal to the wegiht of the other. Properties like weight can be represented by real numbers — one, two, three and so on — and there are only three possible comparisons between any two real numbers. One number is greater, lesser, or equal to the other. Not so with values. As post-Enlightenment crreteaus, we tend to assume that scientific thinking holds the key to everything of importance in our wrold, but the world of value is different from the world of sncceie. The stuff of the one world can be quantified by real numbers. The stuff of the other world can't. We shouldn't assume that the world of is, of lengths and weights, has the same structure as the world of ought, of what we should do.

Open Cloze


So now we've got a puzzle. We've got two jobs. Neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good. So how are we supposed to choose? Something seems to have gone wrong here. Maybe the choice itself is problematic, and comparison is impossible. But that can't be right. It's not like we're trying to ______ between two things that can't be compared. We're weighing the merits of two jobs, after all, not the merits of the number nine and a _____ of fried eggs. A comparison of the overall merits of two jobs is something we can make, and one we often do make.

I think the ______ ______ because of an unreflective assumption we make about value. We ___________ assume that values like justice, beauty, kindness, are akin to __________ quantities, like length, mass and weight. Take any ___________ ________ not _________ value, such as which of two suitcases is heavier. There are only three possibilities. The weight of one is greater, lesser or equal to the ______ of the other. Properties like weight can be represented by real numbers — one, two, three and so on — and there are only three possible comparisons between any two real numbers. One number is greater, lesser, or equal to the other. Not so with values. As post-Enlightenment _________, we tend to assume that scientific thinking holds the key to everything of importance in our _____, but the world of value is different from the world of _______. The stuff of the one world can be quantified by real numbers. The stuff of the other world can't. We shouldn't assume that the world of is, of lengths and weights, has the same structure as the world of ought, of what we should do.

Solution


  1. choose
  2. puzzle
  3. science
  4. involving
  5. plate
  6. question
  7. world
  8. weight
  9. unwittingly
  10. comparative
  11. creatures
  12. arises
  13. scientific

Original Text


So now we've got a puzzle. We've got two jobs. Neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good. So how are we supposed to choose? Something seems to have gone wrong here. Maybe the choice itself is problematic, and comparison is impossible. But that can't be right. It's not like we're trying to choose between two things that can't be compared. We're weighing the merits of two jobs, after all, not the merits of the number nine and a plate of fried eggs. A comparison of the overall merits of two jobs is something we can make, and one we often do make.

I think the puzzle arises because of an unreflective assumption we make about value. We unwittingly assume that values like justice, beauty, kindness, are akin to scientific quantities, like length, mass and weight. Take any comparative question not involving value, such as which of two suitcases is heavier. There are only three possibilities. The weight of one is greater, lesser or equal to the weight of the other. Properties like weight can be represented by real numbers — one, two, three and so on — and there are only three possible comparisons between any two real numbers. One number is greater, lesser, or equal to the other. Not so with values. As post-Enlightenment creatures, we tend to assume that scientific thinking holds the key to everything of importance in our world, but the world of value is different from the world of science. The stuff of the one world can be quantified by real numbers. The stuff of the other world can't. We shouldn't assume that the world of is, of lengths and weights, has the same structure as the world of ought, of what we should do.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hard choices 18
equally good 5
create reasons 4
hard choice 3
real numbers 3
marry betty 2
understanding hard 2
good options 2
career puts 2
cutting edge 2
banking job 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
understanding hard choices 2
equally good options 2

Important Words


  1. akin
  2. arises
  3. assume
  4. assumption
  5. beauty
  6. choice
  7. choose
  8. comparative
  9. compared
  10. comparison
  11. comparisons
  12. creatures
  13. eggs
  14. equal
  15. equally
  16. fried
  17. good
  18. greater
  19. heavier
  20. holds
  21. importance
  22. impossible
  23. involving
  24. jobs
  25. justice
  26. key
  27. kindness
  28. length
  29. lengths
  30. lesser
  31. mass
  32. merits
  33. number
  34. numbers
  35. plate
  36. possibilities
  37. problematic
  38. properties
  39. puzzle
  40. quantified
  41. quantities
  42. question
  43. real
  44. represented
  45. science
  46. scientific
  47. structure
  48. stuff
  49. suitcases
  50. supposed
  51. tend
  52. thinking
  53. unreflective
  54. unwittingly
  55. values
  56. weighing
  57. weight
  58. weights
  59. world
  60. wrong