We all come to judgments with a bundle of assumptions which we have learned from past experience. It is an assumption that someone who has been dishonest once will be dishonest again; it is an assumption that someone who has cheated on their spouse is untrustworthy in politics. It is an assumption that shareholders should always be considered before employees; it is an assumption that employees should be considered before shareholders. It is an assumption that men are naturally promiscuous; it is an assumption that women are naturally faithful. It is assumption that men are unable to recognize and express their feelings. It is an assumption that a rebellious teenager is acting from malice, or, for that matter, that his upbringing or environment relieve him of all responsibility.
Some of our assumptions may have been learnt from our parents or peer groups, others may be a reasonable deduction from experience, others may be the result of prejudice. Stereotyping is a common form of assumption – students are unreliable, Asians are hard workers, men are emotionally illiterate etc.
We cannot operate without assumptions because we simply do not have time to think out every situation we encounter from scratch. We all have a series of pre-packed judgments in our mind, and we reach up into our mental shelves to bring down the packages which we think apply to the situation in hand. And to a large extent our assumptions define us: “our prejudices far more than our judgments constitute our historical existence” – as one authority argued. But it is possible to review our assumptions and test them for truth, as well as their applicability to a specific situation. We might compare the assumptions we made as teenagers with those we make in maturity because life can change assumptions. Similarly our practice of the habits of virtue can change our assumptions and make them more reliable. But at the point of decision – whether this is a conclusion about truth or a moral decision – we should be clear about the assumptions we are making, just as we need to be clear about our feelings. At the very least we can then judge with our reason what weight they should be given in our deliberation.
How aware are we, in real life, of the assumptions we employ – both in our decisions and in the opinions we express, even in this Blog? Perhaps some of us find that a fellow contributor is predictable and, perhaps rightly, that he or she is reacting rather than thinking. But we must be on guard: perhaps we are seen as predictable to others. Are we responsible for our assumptions?