I am good at making correct moral decisions. I am good at communicating. I am good at tolerance, and patience, and humility. I am good at deciding beneficial national policies and priorities. I am good at driving. I am good at my job. I am good at coming up with lists of examples.
I am good at thinking concretely, as demonstrated by my immediate reaction to these:
I don’t know what “good at making correct moral decisions” looks like, let alone “good at deciding beneficial national policies and priorities”, which will only be for historians to judge, and they’ll disagree among themselves anyway. To know how good I am at communicating, look at the outcomes, and do not think “I’m good at communicating, he’s just stupid!” “Good at tolerance, and patience, and humility” looks like the actual behaviours that these describe, and does not look like blaming the other person for trying one’s tolerance, and patience, and humility. “Good at driving” looks like not being in accidents, not being frequently tooted at for dawdling, being aware of how aware I am being of the various hazards on the road, keeping one’s vehicle in good running order, and so on; and does not look like saying “but it was the other driver’s fault” after being in an accident. “Good at my job” looks like getting the things done that the job consists of, a progressing career, earned money in the bank, overt recognition by peers, and so on; and does not look like complaining about the injustice of the world if these things are not happening. And all of these judgements of “good at” involve recognising when one has fallen short, so that one may become better at the thing.
Besides, I doubt I have ever had occasion to think “I am good at...” whatever. (The first sentence of this comment is just rhetorical parallelism.) I would think instead, “this is how good or bad I am at”, because there is always someone better, and someone worse.
I don’t know what “good at making correct moral decisions” looks like
Maybe you don’t know, but at least millions of people, in the judicial systems of nearly every country, claim they do. And these folks, publicly announce, that they have the power to prosecute and decide your fate the moment you step on their territory, partially or sometimes entirely based on their certitude in their ‘correct moral decisions’.
So I think JBlack was pointing out that it seems a bit odd that you could be unaware.
I don’t recall seeing such people say so. They are there in various roles to apply the law as best they can. They make various judgements, moral and otherwise, but where do they go about saying that they are good at making these judgements? When a decision must be made, one cannot infer anything about the certitude with which it is made.
When a decision must be made, one cannot infer anything about the certitude with which it is made.
It seems your a bit confused here? Prosecutors in many countries have great leeway to pick and choose. And even after choosing to prosecute someone, at each step along the way they have nearly complete leeway to pick and choose whether to continue on to the next step until final judgement or just drop it one day.
There are very rarely cases where they ‘must’ make a decision on a particular individual, particularly in the US.
I don’t know of any countries where the opposite is true, perhaps you know of one?
Prosecutors in many countries have great leeway to pick and choose.
I.e. to make decisions. Everything they do in their jobs involves a decision to do that thing. I am not clear how your reply relates to my comment. And none of this relates to your claim that these people are claiming to be “good at making correct moral decisions”.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with how prosecution systems or the judiciary works in general?
To elaborate, there are several stages along which the ‘decisions’ of the prosecutors have close to zero impact, if the case does get dropped before final judgement. Even if there is solid evidence of guilt available from the beginning.
At least in common law countries.
But that also doesn’t prevent a prosecutor from going all the way with an actually innocent person based on a belief in being “good at making correct moral decisions” and deciding their fate.
For example, if they have a dozen cases on their desk, half actually innocent, half actually guilty, there simply is no ‘must’ there. They could decide to drop all of them, drop none, decide based on gut feel, etc…
And the default is to do nothing and let the paperwork sit and collect dust until the next prosecutor comes in, who can also do the same thing, etc., until the case gets too old and is automatically closed.
Only a small fraction makes it into any court at all, and only a small fraction of those ever go all the way through. Sustained partially, or sometimes entirely, based on their certitude in their ‘correct moral decisions’.
I am good at making correct moral decisions.
I am good at communicating.
I am good at tolerance, and patience, and humility.
I am good at deciding beneficial national policies and priorities.
I am good at driving.
I am good at my job.
I am good at coming up with lists of examples.
I am good at thinking concretely, as demonstrated by my immediate reaction to these:
I don’t know what “good at making correct moral decisions” looks like, let alone “good at deciding beneficial national policies and priorities”, which will only be for historians to judge, and they’ll disagree among themselves anyway. To know how good I am at communicating, look at the outcomes, and do not think “I’m good at communicating, he’s just stupid!” “Good at tolerance, and patience, and humility” looks like the actual behaviours that these describe, and does not look like blaming the other person for trying one’s tolerance, and patience, and humility. “Good at driving” looks like not being in accidents, not being frequently tooted at for dawdling, being aware of how aware I am being of the various hazards on the road, keeping one’s vehicle in good running order, and so on; and does not look like saying “but it was the other driver’s fault” after being in an accident. “Good at my job” looks like getting the things done that the job consists of, a progressing career, earned money in the bank, overt recognition by peers, and so on; and does not look like complaining about the injustice of the world if these things are not happening. And all of these judgements of “good at” involve recognising when one has fallen short, so that one may become better at the thing.
Besides, I doubt I have ever had occasion to think “I am good at...” whatever. (The first sentence of this comment is just rhetorical parallelism.) I would think instead, “this is how good or bad I am at”, because there is always someone better, and someone worse.
So, that is how I think about such things.
Maybe you don’t know, but at least millions of people, in the judicial systems of nearly every country, claim they do. And these folks, publicly announce, that they have the power to prosecute and decide your fate the moment you step on their territory, partially or sometimes entirely based on their certitude in their ‘correct moral decisions’.
So I think JBlack was pointing out that it seems a bit odd that you could be unaware.
I don’t recall seeing such people say so. They are there in various roles to apply the law as best they can. They make various judgements, moral and otherwise, but where do they go about saying that they are good at making these judgements? When a decision must be made, one cannot infer anything about the certitude with which it is made.
It seems your a bit confused here? Prosecutors in many countries have great leeway to pick and choose. And even after choosing to prosecute someone, at each step along the way they have nearly complete leeway to pick and choose whether to continue on to the next step until final judgement or just drop it one day.
There are very rarely cases where they ‘must’ make a decision on a particular individual, particularly in the US.
I don’t know of any countries where the opposite is true, perhaps you know of one?
I.e. to make decisions. Everything they do in their jobs involves a decision to do that thing. I am not clear how your reply relates to my comment. And none of this relates to your claim that these people are claiming to be “good at making correct moral decisions”.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with how prosecution systems or the judiciary works in general?
To elaborate, there are several stages along which the ‘decisions’ of the prosecutors have close to zero impact, if the case does get dropped before final judgement. Even if there is solid evidence of guilt available from the beginning.
At least in common law countries.
But that also doesn’t prevent a prosecutor from going all the way with an actually innocent person based on a belief in being “good at making correct moral decisions” and deciding their fate.
For example, if they have a dozen cases on their desk, half actually innocent, half actually guilty, there simply is no ‘must’ there. They could decide to drop all of them, drop none, decide based on gut feel, etc…
And the default is to do nothing and let the paperwork sit and collect dust until the next prosecutor comes in, who can also do the same thing, etc., until the case gets too old and is automatically closed.
Only a small fraction makes it into any court at all, and only a small fraction of those ever go all the way through. Sustained partially, or sometimes entirely, based on their certitude in their ‘correct moral decisions’.