Conjunctions and Decision-making

Written sentences end with a period–or, sometimes with a question mark or an exclamation point. Spoken sentences end with a full stop, at least they are supposed to. In many cases, however, they end with a comma–a slight pause–and continue with what is, in effect, a new sentences, just as I am doing now, with sentence joined to sentence in an almost nonstop sequence, often linked together with a conjunction and continue until they are interrupted.

Good thinking, dialectical thinking, doesn’t use periods; it always uses conjunctions. It doesn’t use periods because “no thought is ever complete by itself.” It always implies “and” or “moreover” or “furthermore. OTOH/BOTOH is always implicit.

Another issue. If no human statement is ever complete, how can we ever decide a course of action? On one hand we realize that there is more that should be considered, but on the other, life continually requires us to make decisions, to cut off debate and dialogue in order to act.

Immanuel Kant was one of the greatest critical thinkers ever. He fell in love and was to be married, but unlike most of us, in love he did not lose his head. He realized better than most that marriage entailed many considerations. As the engagement lingered on, other hands kept calling for his attention. No one has ever thought through marriage more carefully than Kant, but since there is always more to be considered, his beloved gave up and married another. Thoughtful Immanuel never married.

At some point we have to cut off thought and act on the best judgment we can make at the time–always realizing that what we do may turn out wrong. We have no choice, however, but to use our best judgment at the time, however incomplete it may be.