Thinking And Moral Problems/3. Making Decisions/Endnotes

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1. See Chapter Five for an elaboration of this term.

2. According to Postman, individuals lacking a sense of purpose can fall into a state of psychic disorientation and become preoccupied by a frantic search for meaning. See Neil Postman, Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 10.
Postman subsequently postulates that we have no better choice than to search the past to find where to go in the future. I strongly disagree. We are where we are today because of our past thoughts and actions. While this has led to considerable human progress we have made mistakes. Surely we can do better—searching the past for ideas seems a prescription for repeating past mistakes. Moreover, all environments change over time, and historical environments no longer exist. To find where to go in the future, we must look in that direction. In fact, there may be a highly satisfactory beacon to be found in the future, one that does generate a sense of purpose and certainty. The outlook I have in mind will be discussed in Part Four; it is one that could only be determined using today’s knowledge.

3. See a postscript to this chapter, Purpose And Meaning, for a discussion of the words “purpose” and “meaning.”

4. The metaphysical purpose adopted by many Westerners to guide their moral decision making is to do their best to ensure that they will continue living beyond death. A “soul” or equivalent is usually postulated to exist, since it is clearly not possible to continue living in a body that decays when dead.
In contrast, the metaphysical purpose adopted by many Easterners is to stop living beyond death. A series of progressive reincarnations is the accepted way to achieve this. (Features of major religions are outlined in Chapter Six.)

5. The mind’s prime requirement to think rationally about important issues accounts for the extreme lengths to which people may go in order to behave in accordance with such beliefs. More about this in Chapter Five.