Everyday Ethics

I apologize in advance to those who visit this site expecting to read something overtly philosophical.  This will not be that sort of piece.  Rather, I want to talk a little bit about the trials and tribulations associated with trying to make a career out of being a philosopher in the 21st century.  In addition, I want to talk a little bit about choices, and the possibility that one can actually be done harm by having more options to choose from.  This is a controversial idea in our world of infinite choices, but one that is worth thinking about philosophically.

First, the emotional rollercoaster.  As of Tuesday night, I was third on the waiting list at a fairly prestigious university, as well as holding an excellent funded offer from a school that is dynamite in ethics, my specialty area of study.  By 11 am on Wednesday, I got an email from the graduate admissions director of the school where I was wait-listed and was told that they had one spot left, that it had been offered to someone in front of me on the wait list, and that this person had until 2 pm to decide.  Otherwise, the position was mine.

Let me give some background to help clarify why this was so emotionally taxing.  My original waiting list position at this school was 19th.  I took this to be a de facto rejection, and assumed that this school was out as a possibility.  Mind you, this school is especially appealing because it is not only a good program, it is also in the state where I already live.  Going there would’ve allowed my wife to keep her job, us to keep things our health insurance and stay in contact with many of our friends, etc.  All this was made more significant by the fact that we are expecting our first child in August.  The stage was set for maximum drama.

As of a couple weeks ago, I had visited the school that had accepted me with the best funded offer, compared it to my other options, and was basically in the process of finalizing my decision to go there, when I got word that I had jumped to 8th on the aforementioned waiting list where I was once 19th.  Eighth became fifth, which soon became third, and on the morning of the 15th, I saw that at least two people had already turned down offers from this school.  My chances were starting to look really good.

Bear in mind, my wife and I had already processed the disappointment of being so far down on the waiting list, as well as the chance to stay in our home state and the associated benefits of doing so.  We suddenly found our selves shocked back into considering this possibility as a live one, only to have it plucked from our hands again when I received an email just after 2 saying that the last spot had been taken.  We were made to deal with the same disappointment twice, the second time with a far greater degree of hopefulness attached.

Don’t get me wrong, now that it’s all over, I’m very happy to be going to the school that wanted me all along.  It’s a great fit for my interest, they offered me a good deal, and I think we will be happy and do well there as a family.  I’m also confident that I will be a skilled and employable philosopher when I am done there.  But the experience has left me wondering about the possibility that sometimes having more options, even possible options, might be a bad thing sometimes.

Think about it.  Since I didn’t actually make it off the waiting list, and having the possibility was extremely stressful for my wife and I, it probably would’ve been better if this whole scenario had never presented itself in the first place.  Accepting the school that I am now going to is the final outcome either way, the only difference is that one scenario involves a whole bunch of stress and uncertainty that the other lacks.  In this case, the possibility of more choices was decidedly worse than having only one choice.

This is by no means a definitive argument that choices are always a bad thing.  Often they are a good thing, especially when the choices are live options that vastly improve upon one’s prospects.  However, this example does indicate that more choices are not automatically better than fewer ones.  In our society, choice is often depicted as the ultimate expression of freedom.  The more choices we have, the better off we are.  It’s thus worth reflecting a bit on whether or not all that freedom is really such a good thing.

As a side note, congratulations to all my fellow PhD applicants who will be going somewhere you are excited about this fall.

About the Author

Elijah Weber is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from Colorado State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman Univerity. He currently lives in Bowling Green, Ohio with his wife Laura, his newborn son Brandon, and his feline life-partner Monte.