ABSTRACT
Effective life choices do not stem from the mechanical application of canned formulas. Instead, they flow from an ongoing interpretive understanding of self in full dialogue with one's social world. Such inter subjectivity can be emotionally painful, but it constitutes an ethical accomplishment. Purely psychological approaches to life choices abstract dilemmas and decisions from the contexts that breathe life into them. Western culture and its psychologists idealize the autonomous individual, the self-actualizing personality, and the "self-made" person. The privatization of choices allows domination and oppression to proceed unchallenged. "Autonomous individuals" all too often shun engagement in the concerns of others and ignore opportunities for purposeful collectivity. In a small but very significant way, every difficult dilemma opens up space for a life choice that contributes to the construction of better ways of being human for us all.
