Are Spontaneous Decisions Ever a Good Thing?
It is quite astounding how the speed with which a decision is taken influences the way the decision is received by the observers.
If faced with a choice of a venue to go to to have lunch, your hungry companion might loathe you for being too indecisive and weighing up the options. Though you are offered an opportunity to choose, you aren't actually expected to exercise discretion (fancy word for 'ability to choose'). For it would seem inappropriate to your hungry companions if you would start genuinely reflecting on each of the suggested options, examining it, and attempting to gauge what your inner voice is saying about the prospect of eating pasta, Mexican food, Japanese ramen, or an American burger. You are expected to value the expected result - the fullness that would trump the feeling of hunger - more than the process of getting there. You are expected to be open to spontaneity.
*storytime*
How many times, during a summer or winter getaway abroad, did my parents have a discussion on this topic! Me and my mom, you see, would get hungry after a day of walking around quite quickly. My dad, on the other hand, would not. Or maybe he would, I could never quite tell. But he used to take full advantage of the complimentary breakfast - like he would go down to the buffet at about 6.30 or 7.00, first alone. Then my mum would join. Then myself, at probably around 8.30. And I'd first have some cereal and an orange juice to get myself started. Then, I'd go on to the frying section - with bacon and sausages and various potato goods such as hashbrowns. Eggs, obviously.
Then...my memory gets a little hazy by this point. Probably because I'd already get quite full. But I guess then I'd have toast, or some sort of bread, probably with jam. And then something else. And then tea and crumpets. Boy, hotel breakfasts are the best. But I digress. My dad would basically eat non-stop between the hours of 6.30am and 12pm. So no wonder he'd still be feeling full for lunch. But mum would be starving by noon, and I- well I didn't really care, so long as they didn't argue too bad. So mum would be demanding that we would go somewhere that does "big plates", whereas my dad would be in favour of something that "does soups or light dishes". Then they would be unable to find a compromise, and we'd mostly continue our daily sightseeing hungry :(.
*back to the topic*
In a different situation, however, where you are thinking about purchasing, say, a washing machine, a decision made too hastily may be criticised. Naturally, it would be said, a washing machine is an expensive gadget, one that is an 'investment' and whose functionality is crucial for its enjoyment. Same with curtains. Or beds. Or TVs. We see the importance of taking your time when choosing those objects in the feeling of pride that washes over us when we announce that "Finally, I have found the washing machine that I was looking for!". For to resist the temptation to stop looking for that perfect thing and just buy something, the first washing machine you see, is, of course, a valid strategy, but one that would not emphasize the stoicism of the shopper. Here, spontaneity is not what is expected.
What is the meaning of "spontaneity"? Some would say it's "a form of action that is neither thoroughly mentally assessed, nor planned in advance". A poorly thought-through split-second decision following a gut instinct. The closest one can get to a perfect reaction. Though this makes sense, I don't think this is an accurate definition.
Is there a difference between a spontaneous decision and an automatic decision? Like when someone wishes you "good morning" and you reply with "good morning" - is that a spontaneous action or an automatic action? Both seem to fall under the heading "split-second decision", and yet there is a crucial difference between automacy and spontaneity. An automatic decision must be seen as a choice that has been made, following the process of consideration, sometime in the past, with the result of the choice being repeated in appropriate circumstances. Whereas a spontaneous decision is a decision that is indeed taken in the moment and, unlike an automatic decision, an original decision.
Having thus had a go at trying to draw a conceptual difference between spontaneity and everything else, let's try to arrive at a conclusion. Are spontaneous decisions good or not? But, wait. It would seem that by figuring out that the public treatment of a spontaneous decision varies according to circumstances, we have cut ourselves off from asserting that all spontaneous decisions are either good or bad. But wait. To say that spontaneous decisions may be categorized as either helpful or unhelpful does not exclude the existence of some sort of intrinsic value of such a decision, or lack thereof. So let's look for the intrinsic value of a spontaneous decision.
It would be unhelpful to try and think of a situation where a decision is spontaneous and has a negative outcome. For such an example would not be illustrative of a broader principle, but instead would point to one particular instance of where spontaneity is not a virtue. Instead, let's examine the broader idea of what does it mean for us to be able to make choices. Let's, therefore, discuss the idea of autonomy.
Autonomy, though unclear as many concepts are, in the accounts of most philosophers, dictates that we are free to make choices. But it is not any choices that would qualify one as free. For instance, a British philosopher by the name of Joseph Raz illustrates the concept of true autonomy by reference to two examples where autonomy is absent. He talks about the Man in a Pit and the Hounded Woman. (Both are googlable). The idea is that neither the first, nor the second is truly autonomous. Because to be autonomous, you must be free to make at any time a combination of choices that are minuscule and unimportant and choices that are extremely important and have awfully serious consequences. A further opinion on autonomy is that one cannot be truly autonomous if one finds themselves in a relationship that is oppressive - this is a view of a philosopher by the name of Marina Oshana. She says that, in essence, if a person makes a choice out of a number of options that is in one way or another limited via the oppressive nature of a relationship, then the choice is not actually autonomous even if the choice is freely made.
So embedded into the autonomy is, then, the consideration that one must make choices. No matter whose account of autonomy we choose as appealing - Oshana's or Raz's, it is understood that in order to even attempt to be autonomous, you must keep making choices. And so, in a way, it is good to choose, and twice as good to choose autonomously. But it is good to choose in the first place!
So then what is the problem with spontaneity? It is a choice, isnt' it, and therefore, it should be always intrinsically worthwhile? Well, that's the catch. To be autonomous means, at least to Raz, to not let your mind be easily swayed. Sure, you can make a choice and then ultimately choose against it, but this must be a part of a bigger strategy - say when you decide to start training to be a marine and then, after you have failed the entrance exam several times you decide that maybe it is not meant to be. But a short-term change of mind - like one day you want to be a soldier, the next day - a UN ambassador - is not a proper choice, as it is too surface-level, too naive and mood-dependent. Therefore, it would seem that spontaneity, when defined as we had defined it -a following of a gut instinct - is not an autonomous choice. Because it was made too quickly; in making that spontaneous choice you necessarily stray away from the sequence of events you've planned beforehand, and that is not a rational change of strategy, but rather a momentous caprice.
This does not mean, however, that there are no other reasons that would confer value on a spontaneous choice. Assuming it is not properly autonomous, it could still be simply free, or the speed with which it has been taken may be celebrated on utilitarian grounds. The choice to agree with me or not is, as they say, all yours!
Sources for pictures:
Shouting in Parliament https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/shouting-match-erupts-on-messy-and-ugly-senate/7249454
Hotel Buffet https://buffetodia.blogspot.com/2017/07/buffet-hotel.html
Dude with a hand in a washing machine https://www.crushpixel.com/de/stock-photo/man-putting-clothes-washing-machine-2034157.html
"Man Machine" by Fritz Kahn https://www.designcurial.com/news/man-machine-4183403
Blue cage, red balloon
https://coneybeare.com/uncategorized/forget-flexibility-your-employees-want-autonomy/
