10. Pluralism

 

Pluralism is context-dependent. 

However, people do reason from principles. 

Ultimately the Pluralist has one principle that won't betray; let's say it's not to kill; thus, the Pluralist will weigh all the principles they face and, if necessary, will break a principle, like don't steal, to keep them from betraying the don't kill principle. 

The core value differs from Pluralist to Pluralist, but this view seems akin to Kant's deontology with one overarching principle. Still, it has consequentialist utility elements, with some duties having more value than others.

Either way, the Pluralist is often caught between TWO or more difficult discussions, with each decision being "right" or "good"!

Whichever decision the Pluralist makes, they will agonize over it. Felling as though they should have done otherwise even though they can not have done otherwise

Agonizing Over Pluralism

 

Swerving, trapped in a sedan cabin. Seatbelt strapped, nerves bursting through his ocher skin like he almost did ten years ago when he was incarcerated for carrying an illegal firearm. A black revolver, security for his bodily and fiscal capital. He lost his fiscal capital once; he swore never again. One day, during an afternoon drive, he disagreed with the police over what counted as a legitimate business. The state confiscated both his fiscal and his inventory. They couldn't find his revolver. But he was about to lose the roulette as another officer would find his revolver and confiscate what the highway cop robbers missed, the bodies capital.

 

When he was released, he saw a daughter he couldn't feed; he had two sons his mother helped him and his new wife raise.

 

He was driving the black streets erratically, swerving like a drunk driver at midnight, but it was 7 am, and there were two options;

The final interview or the hospital.

Both were the right course of action, but only one could be done.

 

He had been out of work for a month doing odd jobs that barely made any ends meet. Profits from these jobs make ends meet as close as two people meeting by yelling a conversation from across an ocean. These were the only jobs an ex-con could get until he found one job. This job offered a career, easy work, and more pay than even many of his relatives with degrees had. He already had two interviews, if he missed the third one. If he missed the third one. He'd be jobless. Eventually, his wife would leave, or maybe she wouldn't, but it would be a long time before he could work anywhere.

 

In the hospital, his mother had maybe an hour left. The person who cared for him, the person who birthed him, fed him, helped him and his family when no one else would. She was leaving. If he went to the interview, he'd never be able to say goodbye. If he missed the interview, his family would be homeless. Staying with his mother was no longer an option. His mother's home was sold to cover the cost of her treatment. And no other relatives had room for them. The landlord wanted any evidence of work.

 

He thought about calling the job to let them know his situation, then he remembered a story about a man who had a car accident before his third interview with the same job. He had a valid excuse, but the job wouldn't allow him to reschedule the third interview. The story was conveyed jokingly, so he called the job, audibly distraught. The hiring manager simply confirmed what the man already knew.

 

He would not be hired if he was late or missed the interview.

 

During the interview, he receives a call. A relative put his mother on the phone, she asked why he wasn't there. He told her of his interview; he said he loved her as the hiring manager beckoned him.

 

Initially, relatives would excoriate him for abandoning his mother for a job. Saying

"You only have one mother! You could have got another job!"

These same relatives would ask him for money which he gave them; he could afford to give out money now.

 

He made the right decision. His family largely benefited from his new income. His job allowed him to finish school and put his children and his wife through college, but every day he agonized. Would it have been better to be homeless but have been with his mother or have been a productive father and parent in his children's lives?