On Making Judgement John Kavanaugh Analysis

On making judgements by John Kavanaugh, an opinion piece in the 1998 Ethics notebook, distinguishes between the two fundamental types of judgement that all human beings are capable of formulating. While acknowledging the negative connotation of judgments against an individual’s soul and conscience, Kavanaughs work critiques modern societal norms that have eliminated much of the second type of judgement. This form of judgement, of the actions and behaviors of others, Kavanaugh views as grossly under expressed and often criticized in a modern society which increasingly finds its members moving towards a sense of narcissistic individualism. Supporting his argument Kavanaugh references the account of a young teenager, who merely stood by and watched the violent murder of another without taking any prohibitive actions to stop the crime, simply because he did not believe he should judge another. The suspension of such judgement, according to Kavanaugh, constitutes a complete abandonment of intellect and conscience. From this lack of judgment, false fallacies are able to

In many situations, judgments are made, but often without properly gathering the necessary data and background for such opinions. In Bernard Logan’s theory of cognition such actions could be liken to a permanent stop upon what he would define as a mere rest point in the search true knowledge. Personally, I have been guilty of such actions, allowing my emotions and preconceived notions of alcoholism to cloud my initial judgement of my father’s alcoholic actions. Instead of using my limited knowledge of alcoholism as a springboard for the discovery and perception of new data on the condition, initially I found myself quick to concede to preconceived biases that my father’s alcoholism was a mere choice, not an uncontrollable and deadly