Practical judgments
By a practical judgment is meant the conscious
recall of a concrete past experience and
the determination of some action by means of
this consciously recalled event. I find that it
will be necessary for me to secure a new stenographer.
I solve the problem by consciously
recalling how I got one before. Upon the
basis of that consciously recalled previous
experience I decide how to act now. This is a
practical judgment.
In strictness what is capitalized is not the
practical judgment itself but the original
concrete experience that is recalled at a later
time, and upon the basis of which a practical
judgment is formed.
Practical judgments cannot be more
comprehensive than one's previous experience.
The necessary condition for fertility in the
formations of practical judgments is therefore
richness of previous experience. Indeed one's
practical judgments are much more restricted
than one's actual experiences. A practical judgment
is dependent not merely upon having had
the necessary experience, but upon the recall
of it at the appropriate occasion. The key to a
side door of my house was temporarily lost.
After trying scores of keys, I found that a key
to a room in the attic would also open the side
door. This side-door key was again carried
off last week. After much vexation and after
trying numerous keys, I again discovered that
the key to the room in the attic would open the
side door. I failed to make the necessary
practical judgment. If when the key was lost
the second time I had recalled my former experience
and had taken advantage of it, I would
have formed a practical judgment and would
have saved myself much inconvenience.
The formation of practical judgments is not
a high form of thought. Indeed it is held by
many that the animals are capable of some
form of practical judgment. A much more
effective form of thought is the formation of
reflective judgments.
