A blog, Political Philosoph-her, starts with a purported reductio of LA Paul's now famous, "What Mary can’t expect when she’s expecting." [Recall: Catrina Dutilh Novaes, Helen De Cruz, I.]
The problem with this approach is that it will make many if not most of our everyday decisions irrational, since something similar could be said of each experience that we have. In some sense, each experience that we have is both transformative and unique. Each experience that we have changes us in some way and is unlike any other experience we have had before it. While I may have seen red before, I have not seen it on this day, in this particular light, and so on. While I may have eaten chocolate ice cream before, I have not done it on this day, in this weather, in this mood, and so on. So, my experience of seeing red or eating chocolate ice cream, or whatever is in a sense unique and transformative. In turn, it would follow, I cannot project my past experiences of seeing red or eating chocolate to know what it will be like, respectively, to see red or to eat chocolate ice cream on this day, at this time, and in this way. So, if we take this rebuttal seriously, it would work to rule out rational decision-making in most cases. It will not only be irrational to choose to have a child but also irrational to choose to see red, to eat chocolate ice cream, to drive your car, to brush your teeth, and so on. This sort of rebuttal pushes too far, since we do not think that our everyday decisions are irrational.--Meena Krishnamurthy.
I think Krishnamurthy misrepresents Paul's position; the point of Paul's paper is not to argue that becoming a parent is an irrational act. Paul allows that there may be ways of thinking about rationality different from standard rational choice models that can capture the rationality of such a decision. Rather, Paul is criticizing standard rational choice models. So, Krishnamurthy's purported reductio is not successful.
Even so, Krishnamurthy's core insight, "each experience that we have" can be "both transformative and unique" does follow from Paul's way of approaching things. (I have expressed reservations.) But that's okay: the world is fundamentally uncertain, and we need not rely on rational choice models to (rationally) seek out tasting chocolate ice cream (or vegemite) in search, perhaps, of surprise, wonder, and awe. That is to say, Krishnamurthy has put her finger on the existentialism embedded in Paul's approach, which encourages us to be open to transformative, almost religious experiences in ordinary life.
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