Risk Taking

In our lives, it is important to exercise self-command. However,

we should not be so concerned with the future that we stifle the present.

The question becomes what balance should we strike between self-command

and risks? What kinds of risks are acceptable or unacceptable? In this

essay, we will use two examples of risks to show the distinction between

the two and arrive at a conclusion as to the balance one should have

between risk and self command. The first example we will use is of a

person who spends his life savings on a lottery ticket and does not win

the lottery. The second is of a person who spends his life savings on a

hunch regarding a cure for AIDS, a hunch that is false. Before we make

this distinction, however, it is necessary to define the terms acceptable

and unacceptable risks.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Risks

There are several ways in which one could define which risks are

acceptable. One could say, for example, that the only acceptable risk is

one for which the odds of success are greater than the odds of failure.

Another definition of acceptable risk might be a risk that does not harm

one's future. We might also say that the only acceptable risk is one

where the aggregate happiness is increased, thus increasing the moral good

of the risk, an idea which is based on John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism.

Finally, we might define a morally good ris...