Pints With Aquinas - 13 Ways You Choose WRONG! | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Episode Date: March 2, 2024

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Hello, my name is Fr. Gregory Pine and I'm a Dominican Friar of the province of St. Joseph. I teach at the Dominican House of Studies and I work as an Assistant Director at the Thomistic Institute. And this is Pines with Aquinas. In this episode I'd like to talk about 13 ways in which you can choose poorly. Why? Because you want to choose poorly? No, because you don't want to choose poorly.

Because you want to choose well. But sometimes in order to choose well it's helpful to clarify the various ways in which our choices can go off the rails so as to be conscious and thereby to avoid what might undo us as reasoners, as choosers. So let's get into it. Here we go. Okay, as you might know, I'm kind of into the virtue of prudence. I like it a lot and I like talking about it. And you might think to yourself, prudence? That's not especially interesting.

Au contraire. It is very interesting. And I don't know that prudence is ever more interesting than when talking about the various sins opposed to prudence, which are just ways of choosing poorly. Okay, so check this out. We're going to have two main categories and then we're going to slot a handful of things into those categories and I guarantee you it helps to clarify the process of choosing for the future.

So, okay. Now, with any virtue, typically we identify two vices, main vices, which are opposed to it. Classic example, hope. On the one side you got despair and on the other side you got presumption or you can think of a non-theological virtue, a moral virtue like fortitude. On the one hand you got rashness and on the other hand you got cowardice or like temperance for instance. On the one hand you got intemper temperance which is overindulgence and on the other hand you got Insensibility which is like underindulgence because such a thing is in fact possible

Okay Now st. Thomas will observe that the virtue typically lies closer to one extreme or to either the excess or defect then to the other okay, so like in the case of Fortitude for instance fortitude bravery, looks a lot more like rashness than it does like cowardice. Or like temperance for instance, it looks a lot more like insensibility than it does like intemperance. So what we'll do is we're going to identify one type of imprudence which looks utterly

unlike it, which is totally opposed to it, and then another type of imprudence which kind of looks a little bit like it, which is closer, at least in our experience, to it. Okay, Father Gregory, totally unclear. What are you trying to say? All right, so we've got two main categories. The first is going to be called imprudence, and this is where prudence just goes off the rails in very obvious and manifest fashion.

Like as cowardice is to courage or fortitude or bravery. So imprudence is to prudence. That's the basic idea. And then we're going to have another category called false prudence. Which looks sneakily like prudence but is not in fact prudence. So we need to be on the lookout. We need to be on the lookout. Alright, I'm just going to repeat myself for the rest of this thing and just be on the lookout, we need to be, you know, on the lookout I'm just going to repeat myself for the rest of this thing and just say on the lookout now 17 times Just kidding, okay

So, in order to get into the various sins which fall under imprudence By the way, that's your first imprudence, general category, but it's the first in our list of 13 You didn't know that I was going to count, I'm going to count, party on Alright, in order to appreciate the various sins which are opposed to prudence, the various sins which undo us as choosers, as deciders, we need to have a feel for how does prudence unfold. Alright, super brief, we'll cruise through it. Basically three steps, counsel, judgment, and command.

Basically you deliberate about the various means that can be deployed to whatever it is that you got in store, and then you make a choice, you decide upon one of them, and then you see it through. Okay, so let's say that you're trying to decide how you travel from Washington, D.C. to New Haven, Connecticut for whatever reason. Okay, so you're like, what do I do? And then you look at flights, you're like, holy smokes,

I'd have to go DCA to Hartford and then take like an hour and a half taxi ride or something like that Uber ride. Does anyone take taxis anymore regardless moving on? From Hartford or I'd have to have somebody pick me up, but I don't know anybody there So how they gonna pick me? Okay, so that's your first option You're like or I could take the train, you know straight from DC to New Haven cool five and a half hours Although I sometimes get very nervous on trains. So there's that or I could drive a wolf

I'd have to go either over the Tappan Zee Bridge or the George Washington Bridge, and both of those are just nightmarish and make me feel terrible. You know, okay, so you get the idea. You're thinking about the different means, and then eventually you decide upon one. You're like, okay, I'm gonna take the train,

and it's gonna cause me slight discomfort, but we're just gonna work through it. And then command is you see it through, so you're getting on the train, you're staying on the train, you're going to the little like, whatever car where they have food and buying that stuff and then you're doing your work and then you're whatever, you're arriving at your destination. So those would be the three stages in any choice.

Alright, counsel, judgment, and command. Alright, now we're going to identify sins which register at each stage. Okay, you ready? So the main sin at the level of counsel, at the same time it's called precipitousness. Basically, you're like, precipitous? What does that even mean? Okay, so let's say you're on a precipice, like a cliff, and you jump from that precipice. You go from way up high to way down low without passing through the intermediate stages as you probably ought to. Like if you hiked down the mountain know it would take you time and you'd go through the steps instead you're

just like okay so precipitousness is going to precipitousness wow this is so straightforward that I can pronounce all of the words precipitousness is when you go from to in rapid fashion so basically you don't think it through and then you just launch and that can be you know it can be a problem because you ought to think it through because often enough a decision is worth thinking it through now if you're like should I brush my teeth now or in five minutes it's like whatever doesn't matter just do something it who cares you don't have to take long deliberate steps and thinking it through you can

just send it all right so st. Thomas will identify this at the level of counsel and he says, truth be told, there are some people who might want to stay there too long though. So there's another vice. He doesn't have a special name for it but he says slowness. So if you're always thinking through the various options, like in your travels to New Haven, Connecticut, you think to yourself, okay, well I could rent one of those little scooters and then I could research on Google Maps whether there's a continuous rail trail or bike path,

or I could work deliberately and intentionally on developing technology which can function as a rocket pack, you know, I saw a movie in the 1990s where that, or I could rent a helicopter, or I could contract with an adventure sports outfitter and see if I could parapoint or whatever that word is you know like so stop it just stop it you know that's the idea basically you can kind of be slow in your deliberations in your taking of

counsel because it actually reveals an attachment to not choosing which is a problem okay so those are two and three so we got imprudence is your category Because it actually reveals an attachment to not choosing, which is a problem. Okay So those are two and three so we got imprudence is your category and then precipitousness and then slowness All right, so we got three of thirteen. We're cruising guys now. The next stage is judgment All right So having thought about the various means which you could use in order to arrive at the end You then have to settle upon one of them with a judgment. But sometimes people do so without really thinking about the pertinent criteria, without paying attention to what they ought to pay attention to.

So it's like your wife comes before you and she says, honey, should I wear the blue dress and the black dress? And you're just like, black dress. Without even looking, right? That's a problem because you're not paying attention to the decision. You're not actually applying yourself to the decision which shows love, which shows consideration, which shows care. All right, so St. Thomas called this inconsideration or thoughtlessness. All right, so you're just not paying attention the way that you should pay attention. All right, now

there is another vice which lodges at this level, which would be kind of opposed to inconsideration or thoughtlessness And then that that maybe that doesn't have a name either. I'm like making up all kinds of vocalizations over here But that doesn't have a name either So we're just gonna call it like hesitancy or paralytic hesitancy It's when your care and concern for the judgment makes it impossible for you to render the judgment. Because you're like, this is so important, this is so important, I could choose wrong, I could choose wrong. It's like the way that a lot of people think about their vocation. It's like God is hiding it from them,

and they have to settle upon something, but they don't want to settle upon something because they think that God will smite them if they choose wrong, and yet it's totally obscure, and as a result of which they don't know how to present it. Okay, you get it. So, at this level of judgment we have two more vices. The first we're calling inconsideration or thoughtlessness and the other I'm calling kind of paralytic hesitancy but that's made up so you cannot quote that. Alright, next. The final stage is command. Alright, when you have to carry it through. So you get on your train and you do your work and you go to the car where they sell the food and you make sure that you stay on

now There is a sin opposed to command the seeing it through called inconstancy where you're like making decisions But then you're constantly backing away from them, right? So it's time to book you book your travel you get your travel insurance and then five seconds later you cancel Because you're like, I don't know It just I might have something come up and as a result of which I don't know that I can commit to it Or even like you're on the train, right? And you pull out a Union Station in Washington DC and you pull up to whatever the first stop is like New Carrollton in Maryland

And you're like, oh my gosh Did I leave the stove on or the light on or the door unlocked or is my dog gonna die of exposure at the neighbor's house because it's actually an untrustworthy person, right? So you pull back from the decision because you don't wanna abide by it, because you don't wanna stick to it,

because you just find it difficult to live in the here and now, in the real, and you wanna constantly, yeah, retreat to the evaluating of options or the rendering of judgments because this is just, it's incarnate, it's too incarnate for you. So that would be called inconstancy. Now at the same level, there's another vice. It's when you stick to a decision when you shouldn't, okay? Let's say that you buy your ticket to New Haven and you're on the train and then the train catches on fire

and everyone is getting off the train at New Carrollton because it's on fire But you're seated in you know like row 77 be Car to I don't know what they think what are you keep going probably very And you're like no I paid for this ticket And I have no assurance that Amtrak will ever refund me because they never refund anyone anything so I'm gonna stay on this train It's like you're nuts the train is on fire okay so sometimes in our decision-making processes the train is on fire what it is that we have resolved to do is not

actually for our good or the good of those whom we love but we just stick to it because we're stubborn brats so that too is a sin called stubbornness okay so at this level you've got inconstancy and stubbornness we are through seven of thirteen rejoice with me okay so the general category is imprudence. And then we have three stages of prudent action, which are counsel, judgment, and then command. And we found two sins, one by excess, one by defect, at each stage. So in the first stage, precipitousness, all right, that's just, whoop, go for it. Or slowness, that's like, ooh, I could do this, or I could do that.

And then we've got inconsideration or thoughtlessness, which is like, yeah, may as well. Without looking at the pertinent criteria, without paying attention or loving in the way that you should. And then hesitancy, paralytic hesitancy, where it's like, oh, this is a big decision. And then the last would be inconstancy, where you make a decision, but then you retreat from it because you're like, ah, I don't know if I can do this and then opposed to that is stubbornness where you're like, I will do this until the stars grow cold. Quote, singing in the rain. Okay, so that's all on the side of imprudence, which we said is

very evidently opposed to prudence. But now let's talk about false prudence, which looks like prudence but isn't in fact. And St. Thomas says, sometimes with false prudence we just settle on a bad end. So we deploy all the mechanisms of prudence but we do it to a bad end. He says that's prudence of the flesh. Where it's like the movie The Italian Job where Edward Norton expends all of his energy defending his money. It's like cool right? Very prudent insofar as you're doing lots of cool stuff which involves thinking but like why? Why defend your money? I mean in the first place you shouldn't have you know betrayed your friends because that

wasn't cool. But on the other hand why spend the entirety of your life defending your money? Why not like enjoy your money and then if they come and steal some of it like well at least you would have enjoyed it. Regardless, okay, prudence of the flesh is setting your mind and heart on something that's not really worth your mind and heart, or it's not really worth you. Okay, so that's like a mistake with respect to the end. But then St. Thomas says, sometimes you know, like it looks again, it looks like prudence, but it's actually wrong with respect to the means. Okay, so like craftiness or cunningness, where we're just thinking about manipulating, we're thinking about controlling, we're thinking about pulling the levers because we want to be the person who gets the job done,

but we're not actually doing it in virtuous fashion. All right? Sure, you can be crafty as serpents, but you also have to be innocent as a dove. So he has a general category for this, which he calls like craftiness or cunning. And then he's got two sins which lodge beneath it, which he calls on the one hand like guile or deceit, and then on the other hand like fraud. Guile and deceit is words and deeds, and fraud is deeds. So this would be the type of person whom like, for instance, you can't trust, all right? You're like, this person is probably lying to me, or this person is probably deceiving me, and when this person says, oh I'm sorry I didn't see your text they did see my text but they left it on read

or they don't have read receipts on so that way they could use this as an excuse as a way by which to dodge an engagement that they didn't find pleasant at the time because they'd rather be at home alone doom-scrolling right so when it comes to the means sure you know you can be good at pulling the levers you can be good at manipulating or controlling. Our general category is cunningness or craftiness or cunning. And then the particular expressions of it would be like guile deceit and then fraud on the other hand.

This would be the type of person who's just, yeah, just not doing the things as he or she ought to do the things. Now then, okay, so prudence of the flesh, that was our eighth. And then craftiness, cunning flesh, that was our eighth, and then craftiness, cunningness, that was our ninth, and then guile deceit, and then fraud, that was our tenth and our eleventh. So, now we've got like a category of things that we're just going to call sins against solicitude. All right, so, there's a big category here when it comes to pulling off prudent actions, and the sin opposed to it is called negligence.

Basically you ought to know, you should know, and you could know, but you didn't know. Or you ought to do, and you should do, but you didn't do. Alright, so leaving something undone that you ought to do because it's for you to do. So like for instance, let's say that you are an only child and it's your parents wedding anniversary and you know that it's very precious to them that you remember their wedding anniversary and you remember at a certain point in the day

and you know that if you don't note it in a reminder or a note or whatever else that you're going to forget it and then you just kind of whatever, culpably let it slip your mind. You're peace doesn't matter you know so that's a kind of negligence that's a low-grade negligence right or like high-grade negligence you're a train conductor and you also know that you're a narcoleptic and you have to take this particular medication in order to stay awake you're gonna crash your train but you're also like really into naps and

you really just like naps and so you say to yourself well what's the worst that happens? We all die in a fiery wreck? I've got I've gotten like train fires on the mind apparently. Okay so you don't take your medication you fall asleep fiery wreck that's criminal negligence right that's a problem. Alright so that's the one thing so then same time it says what's opposed to this or like what do we do in order to counter this negligence and the virtue that he refers to or the kind of virtue is called solicitude So basically, you know applying yourself to the things that you ought to apply yourself to but he says Solicitude can go off the rails if we care too much about things of this world or things of the future All right, so I'm classing those together. So now we have number 12 negligence

Yeah Could know you should know and you don't Or on the other hand, false solicitude. So for temporal things or goods of this world and then for the goods of the future world. So when you look at that whole landscape, you have a sense of what it means for you to make a decision. What should you care about? That's the first question.

You should care about those things which pertain to you, given your state, given your time and place, given your circumstances, all the things that come to bear. And then you should try to respond generously, right? Not because life is a list or life is a series of rules to be followed, but because life is an invitation for an adventure and God is communicating to you the nature of that adventure in your life and its concrete and particular details. And mind you, we're gonna be, you know, inclined to worry about things of the here and now and things of the future, but we need to entrust the Lord with the care of our life because He's provident, because He's good, because He

says that He'll take care of us, and that if we do what we can with what we have and the time afforded us, He'll make good on it, right? So we take the right amount of time and we pay the right amount of attention and we show the right amount of grit in going from counsel to judgment to command and we try to be honest with ourselves when we've espoused a false end or when we're deploying false means in that effort so that way even if you know we might not produce the outcomes or effects or consequences which we might like to see we can ultimately be abandoned to God who will bring about a good work in us regardless of whether

or not we optimize or maximize. So there you go my friends, those are 13 ways that you can choose poorly. Hope that's of service to you. You may have anticipated this but things along those lines are described in my book, Prudence, Choose Confidently, Live Boldly, so check it out if you haven't. But besides, this is Pints with Aquinas. If you haven't yet, please do subscribe to the channel channel push the bell and get sweet updates when other things come out and then I contribute to a podcast called God's planning and

We've done a couple of episodes about prudence because I always try to sneak it in because I am just that type of guy So if you haven't yet checked out God's planning, please do and I'll look forward to meeting you in those fora So know my prayers for you, please pray for me and I look forward to chatting with you next time on Pines with Aquinas.