@philosophyminis: Don't have kids because you will regret it. Don't marry her, don't leave him, don't take that job, don't move cities because you will regret it. It's quite common for a close friend, or family member, to tell you that you will regret a big decision, but according to the philosopher Derek Parfit, they are always wrong to do so. Parfit gives two reasons for this. The first is that the person who you are now has their own reasons for acting. You are a certain brain with a certain environment, working on the best information available to you right now. And the second is that the person in the future who may, or may not, come to regret that decision is actually a different person. They will have different values. They will see the world from a different position. So even if they do regret it, in a sense, they are different. Parfit's theory of regret is tied into his wider theory of psychological continuity, where he argues that there is no one static ego, but rather a shifting self that changes depending on your current psychological state, and so your past self acted on the reasons and the psychological states that were valid to them at the time. So yes, you may now have to deal with the consequences of a past decision that your past self once made. But to carry the emotional burden of regret is, according to Parfit, irrational because the person who made that decision was operating in a certain world, and with certain information available to them. You are doing your best, and who you once were was doing their best as well.

Ainest Acorn :

if you live in fear of making the wrong decisions then you forget to live

yoash :

agree, except on the kids part, cus marring, breaking up, changing jobs or moving cities are all stuff that only affect you and maybe your partner, and the consequences aren't that big deal, you can always get divorced or change jobs, but kids are a permanent decision that cannot be changed later on, which makes the end decision much more risky without the option of reversing the situation. so no, don't do kids just cus you might regret not to, but have them with certainty

Idkwiawie :

I.e., you don’t know your future self’s opinions, so there’s no way to accurately plan around them

emogurlz :

I have never regretted doing something, always something that I didn’t do, i kept wondering about

Bigbadmark :

'It seemed like a good idea at the time'

Spurk :

dont exist bro trust me its not worth it

Sideeffect :

Even though one knows this logically, it was nice to hear your last sentence 😊

Ira Francisco :

Fits perfectly and a wider-application of my philosophy on regret, "I shouldn't regret a thing I did in the past because I was happy and in the right state of mind in the past when I did it"

Tissue :

You've talked about how people betray future selves every day. How does that corelate with this video?

cloud4668 :

I agree with the overall premise, but its hard for me to accept that the past version of myself was just doing his best with what he had at the time. I guess I struggle with forgiving myself and moving on from past mistakes

✨ :

Nah a lot of people are not doing there best bro

. :

Bro I love you and your account!!!

corbinch :

i wonder how this ties in with what keirkegaard says about regret.

ONEANDONLY :

Thank you

A :

I barely regret my decision bc i knew what was the circumstances i was in

Typicalino :

I love watching your videos, thank you so much!

dianpercru :

Exactly what I needed

errant_fold_07 :

many people like to make decisions but let others be responsible for it.

אלברי לייזר :

sure,but a friend may give me information

Jasmine 🇵🇸 :

I needed this wow

karetgelang :

Henok :

big fan of your work but i would like to hear your personal philosophic ideas and theories other than what other philosophers said

AkinaThania :

I think every decision will make you regret at the end everything, because of "What if"

ME2 :

Can someone break this down

Knuckle Daddy :

We hear this all the time. "I didn't know."