Let me approach this idea of incomparable reasons for

Let me approach this idea of incomparable reasons for our choices with an
example that will be familiar to many of us. When having a difficult time making
a decision, have you ever compiled a list of reasons for and against each choice?
Did it help you make your decision? I have made such lists on several occasions,
and it has never helped me at all. What I saw when I made the list was that there
were good reasons supporting each possible decision, and in effect I saw why I
was unable to come to a decision. Making the list brought me no closer to de-
ciding which of those reasons were strongest—because the reasons on one side
were not stronger than the reasons on the other side, nor could I assess them as
equal—they were just different. They were independent considerations that were
not comparable in a fashion that aided me in making my decision.
I understand now that when faced with competing considerations of different
kinds, there is no way to make the best decision because there is no surefire way
or standard to weight certain considerations over others, or to know what the
future outcomes of those decisions will be. There often is just no right or best
decision, but nonetheless there are good reasons for whichever decision is made,
and of course, the same is true for the alternatives which were not chosen. In
fact, some people realize this and routinely after making a choice continue to fret
that things may have worked out better if they had chosen one of the other al-
ternatives—and of course they are right. Their choice was made in a world with
imperfect knowledge about the future, often with many people and variables to
consider, and at times with no standard from which to judge.
As Balaguer has pointed out, torn decisions between equally competing alter-
natives seem to be a regular part of our lives—whether it is in choosing which
item to order off of the dinner menu, or whether to take that potentially prom-
ising but risky job offer or not. Similarly, I believe that decisions made when the
reasons supporting each option are incomparable are just as common, and
probably more so.
But why? Why does our mind quite regularly reach an impasse and view the
options as incomparable?
I believe that there are three factors which are often present in situations when
we have difficulty deciding because we feel that the two or more options are in-
comparable:
1) Complexity: Often there are so many people or variables to consider that

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our mind feels overwhelmed and so we cannot adequately process or compare
the options.
2) Future Unknowability: Often in considering the best option we must make
predictions about what will happen in the future if we choose that option, but
the future is unknown, and in many situations very hard to predict. When we
realize this in a given situation, our minds often reach an impasse and cannot
decide which option is better.