To be fair, all of the best decisions I've ever made have come out of "I feel that way" and all of my worst decisions have come out of "This is rationally correct".
>To be fair, all of the best decisions I've ever made have come out of "I feel that way" and all of my worst decisions have come out of "This is rationally correct".
You could hypothesize things are likely to be that way because there is no rational purpose to life - you do some stuff then die. If anything you could say a successful life is one where you enjoyed the ride which may be maximised by doing what feels right. I guess.
Is it really that easy? The 'maximize' part? Maximizing happiness could then be to secure a big supply of heroin and being on an IV drip all the time.
Some people feel that way. For some - in the end deep emotional reason, I don't _want_ it to be that way for myself. Even though I probably have more pain that way, going through life.
Whenever it comes to potential harm to people of far social distance, well practiced rationality leavened by empathy had better hold sway.
Also, if you are a member of a privileged group, you may well have the luxury of just doing what you feel. You also may or may not be insulated from some of the consequences.
I'm a young white cis straight male from a low middle-class single-parent family currently striking it out on his own on a foreign continent without the safety net of friends, family, or a steady job. Also I'm short to boot (this is bad for men, I'm told)
Am I a member of a privileged group?
That said, gut feel has always guided me very well when I have incomplete information. I always have incomplete information.
I did the same, with pretty much the same cicomstances. The fact that we had a choice in the matter leaves us pretty much privileged, no doubt in my mind.
I am a firm believer of the idea that everyone's got a choice. It's the living with the consequences bit that's problematic.
Usually what people mean when they say "I don't have a choice" is actually "The probability and cost of catastrophic failure are too high to be worth it".
Life is funny like that.