ABSTRACT
In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty says that when he uses a word, it means exactly what he chooses it to mean, neither more nor less.1 Our reactions to his peculiar definitions reveal that a writer who wishes to communicate cannot claim Humpty Dumpty’s freedom. Readers generally have some previous acquaintance with the terms that are to be defined, and a definition that takes no account of this leaves them alienated or confused. A good definition builds upon and sharpens distinctions with which readers are already familiar. Ideally, a definition is not imposed by the author, but rather greeted by readers with the thought, “Yes, that is exactly how the term ought to be understood.” This chapter advances a definition of a collective decision, a term that suggests meanings to most readers even if they are not prepared to define it. My task is to persuade you that the understandings you already have of this term are best captured in a definition that may be surprising. But the definition of a collective decision will seem natural after the definitions of “decision” and “collectivity,” which are developed in the next two sections. Defining “Decision” A decision is not a physical event, but rather a mental one. If you say, “I have decided what to do,” it does not imply that you have actually done anything, only that your mind is made up. Thus decisions are not observed directly; rather, they are inferred from speech or other actions. For this reason, there is an unavoidable element of uncertainty in any assertion that a decision has been made. From its Latin root, to “decide” is to “cut away.” The applicability of deciding as cutting away can be seen when the future is conceived as a branching tree of possibilities. The actual course that events will take depends on a combination of one’s own choices, the choices of others, and those of “nature.” A decision cuts away some of the branches. The actions involved in implementing decisions need not be physical. While flying in an airplane I may decide to pray, or to compute in my head the number of square feet in an acre, and the implementation of my decision might be
unobservable to anyone watching me. Therefore the word “action” will be stretched to cover all behavior that implements decisions, whether the behavior is physical or mental. Sometimes a decision involves the selection of a single intended course of action (“Tomorrow I will go to the city”), contingent on circumstances, such as continued good health, that are often left unspecified. At other times a decision represents the exclusion of a possibility (“I will not go to the city tomorrow”) or the narrowing down of possibilities (“For my vacation I will go either to Boston or to New York”). All are examples of pruning the tree of future possibilities. Even if there is an interval of time between the formation of an intention and the corresponding action, there is still no decision if the actor does not see himself or herself as making a choice. A soldier following orders or a driver responding to a traffic signal may act on the basis of a habit of behaving as directed in these circumstances, rather than as a result of a decision to do so on this occasion, although he might also think about it and decide to follow the orders or the traffic signal. These considerations lead to the following definition of a decision.
