How Ethics Can Help You Make Better Decisions | Michael Schur | TED

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Ivana Krivokuca

I've been a television comedy writer for almost 25 years.

Pisac sam televizijskih komedija već skoro 25 godina.

I have written sketches and animated shows

Pisao sam skečeve i animirane serije,

and sitcoms,

kao i sitkome,

but for the last decade,

ali u protekloj deceniji,

my real passion has been the study of ethics.

moja istinska strast je bila izučavanje etike.

It's a classic cautionary tale, right?

Radi se o klasičnoj poučnoj priči, zar ne?

You move to Hollywood,

Preselite se u Holivud,

you get seduced by the bright lights and the fast cars,

zavedu vas bleštava svetla i brzi automobili,

and before you know it,

i pre nego što ste svesni,

you're reading 18-century German philosophy.

čitate nemačku filozofiju iz XVIII veka.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I've always been an intense rule follower.

Oduvek sam bio striktan poštovalac pravila.

When I was in kindergarten,

Kad sam bio u vrtiću,

our teacher would tell everyone to line up,

učitetljica bi rekla svima da stanu u red,

and I would immediately line up

i ja bih istog trena stao u red

and then I would look at all the other kids

i onda bih gledao svu ostalu decu

who were still goofing off,

koja se i dalje glupiraju,

and I would think, "What are they doing?

i pomislio bih: „Šta rade?

Zar nisu čuli da nam je rekla da stanemo u red?”

Did they not hear her, she said to line up."

I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash for at least 30 seconds every night,

Koristio sam tečnost za ispiranje usta najmanje 30 sekundi svako veče

because on the label, it says "Use for 30 seconds."

jer je na etiketi pisalo: „Koristiti 30 sekundi.”

I know, I'm irritated by me, too.

Znam, nerviram i samog sebe.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But the real reason that I became interested in ethics

Ipak, pravi razlog zašto sam se zainteresovao za etiku

is because in 2005,

je jer sam 2005. godine

I royally and epically screwed something up.

kraljevski i epski zabrljao.

So, 2005, my wife JJ,

Dakle, 2005, moja supruga Džej-Džej,

driving along in slow-moving traffic bumps into the guy in front of her.

vozeći se u sporom prometu je udarila čoveka ispred nje.

Police officer looks everything over, doesn't see any damage,

Policajac je sve pregledao, nije video nikakvo oštećenje,

they exchange numbers and they go on their way.

razmenili su brojeve i svako je pošao svojim putem.

A couple days later,

Nekoliko dana kasnije,

we get a notice that the guy wants 836 dollars

dobijamo poruku da lik želi 836 dolara

because, according to him, the entire fender needs to be replaced.

jer, po njegovom mišljenju, čitav blatobran mora da se zameni.

This is happening during Hurricane Katrina.

Ovo se dešavalo tokom uragana Katrine.

JJ and I had just been to New Orleans on a trip,

Džej-Džej i ja smo upravo bili na putovanju u Nju Orleans

we had really fallen in love with this beautiful city,

i zaista smo se zaljubili u taj prelepi grad,

which was now literally under water.

koji je sad bukvalno bio pod vodom.

I was very riled up.

Bio sam veoma iznerviran.

This was hitting me really hard.

Ovo me je uistinu snažno pogodilo.

So I went and I looked at the guy's car,

Pa sam pošao da pogledam kola ovog lika,

and if I got very close,

i ukoliko bih se skroz primakao,

and I strained my eyes,

i napregao oči,

I could just barely see this little line on the crease.

jedva da sam video malenu liniju na prevoju.

It looked like the mark you make with a pencil on the wall

Izgledalo je poput znaka koji biste napravili olovkom na zidu

when you're trying to hang a picture.

kada pokušavate da obesite sliku.

And I told the guy, essentially, that he shouldn't care about this.

Rekao sam liku, u suštini, da ne bi trebalo da brine zbog ovoga.

I told him that things like this

Rekao sam mu da su zbog ovih stvari

were why car insurance rates in LA were so expensive.

stope auto osiguranja u Los Anđelesu tako skupe.

Rekao sam mu da automobili stalno dobijaju ulubljenja i ulegnuća

I told him that cars get little dings and dents all the time,

and he was stupid to care about that.

i da je budala što mari za to.

I told him that there were more important things in life than this,

Rekao sam mu da u životu ima i važnijih stvari

like Hurricane Katrina.

poput uragana Katrine.

And then I made him an offer.

I onda sam mu ponudio.

I said that I would donate 836 dollars to the Red Cross Katrina relief fund

Rekao sam da ću donirati 836 dolara Crvenom krstu za pomoć žrtvama Katrine

in his name,

u njegovo ime,

if he agreed not to file this claim and fix his car.

ako pristane da ne preda zahtev za popravku automobila.

He said he would think it over.

Rekao je da će da razmisli.

So I went back to work,

Vratio sam se na posao,

and as very confident people want to do,

i kao što je slučaj sa suviše samouverenim ljudima,

I started telling all my friends about how awesome I was being.

govorio sam svim svojim prijateljima koliko sam sjajan.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And then they jumped in

A onda su oni uleteli

and started pledging more and more money

i počeli da zalažu sve više i više novca,

if this guy would agree not to fix his car.

ako ovaj čovek pristane da ne popravi auto.

So suddenly, it was 2,000 dollars,

Iznenada, radilo se o 2 000 dolara,

then it was 5,000 dollars.

pa 5 000 dolara.

In like, a day and a half,

Za otprilike dan i po,

I had pledges from hundreds of people, all across the country,

dobio sam zaloge od stotina ljudi širom države

of more than 25,000 dollars

u vrednosti preko 25 000 dolara,

if this guy would agree not to file an insurance claim and fix his car.

ako ovaj čovek pristane da ne preda zahtev osiguranju za popravku auta.

And by the way, he has no idea this is happening.

I usput, on pojma nema da se ovo dešava.

He is completely in the dark.

Potpuno je van tokova.

I started a blog,

Napravio sam blog

where I gave people hourly updates -- yeah.

gde sam pružao ažuriranja na svakih sat - da.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It's beginning to dawn on you what a bad idea this is, right?

Počinje da vam bude jasno koliko je ovo loša ideja, zar ne?

I started a blog, gave people updates,

Napravio sam blog, pružao ljudima redovna ažuriranja,

I got media inquires from news programs, from NPR.

dobijao medijska pitanja od strane novinskih programa, od NPR-a.

I had a dream of rescuing New Orleans by myself,

Sanjao sam da ću sam da spasim Nju Orleans,

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

with nothing more than my computer

samo uz pomoć kompjutera

and a fire hose of self-righteous anger.

i salvama pravednog gneva.

And then I started to feel sick to my stomach.

A onda sam počeo da osećam mučninu.

And so did JJ, at the exact same moment.

To se desilo i Džej-Džej istovremeno.

We both were suddenly overcome with this awful feeling

Oboje nas je preplavilo užasno osećanje

that there was something very bad and wrong

da je nešto veoma loše i pogrešno

about what we were doing,

u onome što smo radili,

but we could not pinpoint what it was.

ali nismo mogli da provalimo šta.

I just remember thinking,

Samo se sećam da sam mislio:

"Alright, I don't care about cars getting little dings and dents,

„U redu, baš me briga za auta i njihova ulubljenja i ulegnuća,

but this guy does.

ali ovog čoveka je briga.

Is that wrong somehow?

Ima li tu nešto pogrešno?

I don't think that's wrong.

Ne mislim da je to pogrešno.

And also, is this little, tiny negotiation that we're in

Kao i, da li je ova malena, sićušna pogodba u kojoj učestvujemo

really worth all of this fury and rage and shame

uistinu vredna sve ove srdžbe, besa i srama

that I'm whipping up and sending in his direction?

koje šibam i odašiljam u njegovom smeru?

I don't think it is."

Ne mislim da jeste.”

So I did what any rational person would do in this situation.

Pa sam uradio što i svako racionalno biće u ovakvoj situaciji.

I started crying, and I hid under my bed.

Zaplakao sam se i sakrio pod krevet.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And then, I started reading philosophy.

A onda sam počeo da čitam filozofiju.

And I started calling philosophy professors

I počeo sam da telefoniram profesore filozofije,

and asking them to talk this out with me.

tražeći im da raspravljaju sa mnom o ovome.

And in the process --

A tokom procesa -

yeah, and they all, by the way, did it,

da, i svi su, usput, pristali

because philosophy professors love talking about philosophy.

jer profesori filozofije vole da govore o filozofiji.

The drop of a hat,

Dok si rekao keks,

they will all talk about philosophy with you.

oni bi razgovarali o filozofiji s vama.

So in the process,

Pa sam u procesu

I learn all of these incredibly wonderful theories

naučio sve te neverovatno čudesne teorije

that the smartest people who have ever lived

koje su najpametniji ljudi koji su ikad živeli

have developed over the last 2,500 years

razvili u poslednjih 2 500 godina

that help us make better decisions and become better people.

kako bi nam pomogli da donosimo bolje odluke i budemo bolji ljudi.

For example, I learned about Immanuel Kant

Na primer, naučio sam o Imanuelu Kantu

and the categorical imperative.

i kategoričkom imperativu.

So Kant says, when we're about to do something

Kant kaže da, kada se spremamo da nešto uradimo,

we have to design a rule or a maxim

moramo da osmislimo pravilo ili maksimu

that we could will to be universal.

za koje bismo poželeli da budu univerzalni.

Meaning, we have to imagine,

U smislu, moramo da zamislimo,

what if everyone did what we're about to do,

ako bi svako postupao poput nas,

what would happen to the world?

šta bi se desilo sa svetom?

Would it be OK or would it get all screwed up?

Da li bi ispao u redu ili bi bio skroz upropašćen?

So the maxim I'm designing here is something like,

Dakle, maksima koju stvaram ovde bi bila u smislu,

anytime two people are in any kind of negotiation,

svaki put kad se dvoje ljudi nađu u bilo kakvim pregovorima,

one of them can drag into the negotiation

jedno od njih može da uvuče u pregovore

an entirely unrelated global calamity

potpuno nepovezanu globalnu katastrofu

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

and tell the other person

i kaže drugoj osobi

that they shouldn't care about whatever they care about,

da ne bi trebalo da mari za šta god da mari

because they should care about that instead.

jer bi trebalo umesto toga da mari za ovo.

That world would suck, right?

Taj svet bi bio užasan, zar ne?

Like, your sister borrows five dollars from you,

Sestra pozajmi od vas pet dolara,

you ask for it back,

tražite da vam ih vrati,

she says, "How dare you care about five dollars

a ona kaže: „Kako možeš da mariš za pet dolara

when the polar ice caps are melting?"

dok se polarne ledene kape tope?”

No one wants to live in this world, right?

Niko ne želi da živi u tom svetu, zar ne?

Kant also says, by the way,

Kant, usput, takođe kaže

that you should treat people as ends in themselves,

da bi trebalo da tretirate ljude kao ciljeve same po sebi,

and not a means to an end,

a ne sredstva za postizanje cilja,

meaning, you shouldn't use people to get what you want.

u smislu, ne bi trebalo da koristite ljude za svoje ciljeve.

Well, that's what I was doing.

Pa, to sam ja radio.

I also learned about Aristotle and the study of virtue ethics.

Takođe sam učio o Aristotelu i učenju o etici vrline.

So Aristotle says there's certain qualities we should all have.

Aristotel kaže da postoje kvaliteti koje bi trebalo svi da imamo.

Things like generosity and courage

Stvari poput darežljivosti, hrabrosti,

and friendliness and mildness,

ljubaznosti i blagosti,

and he wants us to practice them every day

a on želi da ih svakodnevno vežbamo

so that we not only have them,

tako da ih ne samo posedujemo,

we have them in the exact right amount.

već i imamo tačno u pravoj količini.

We don't have a deficiency of them,

Da nemamo nijihov nedostatak,

and we don't have an excess of them.

ali da ih nemamo ni prekomerno.

Now virtue ethics can be kind of, maddeningly imprecise,

Etika vrline može bit nekako izluđujuće neprecizna,

but at the very least, it was pretty clear that I was exhibiting an excess of anger

ali, u najmanju ruku, bilo je očito da sam ispoljavao prekomeran bes

and maybe a deficiency of friendliness.

i možda nedostatak ljubaznosti.

I wasn't nailing it, is the point.

Poenta je da nisam briljirao.

Like, I definitely was not getting it exactly right.

Definitivno se nisam poneo baš na pravi način.

Then I learned about utilitarianism,

Onda sam saznao za utilitarizam,

made famous by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

koga su popularisali Džeremi Bentam i Džon Stjuart Mil.

And this one actually gave me a shred of hope

A to mi je zapravo dalo trunku nade

that I was doing something good,

da bar nešto radim dobro

because utilitarians only care about the results of our actions,

jer utilitariste je jedino briga za rezultate postupaka,

they only care that we are creating more happiness and pleasure

jedino ih je briga da stvaramo više sreće i zadovoljstva

than we are pain and suffering.

nego bola i patnje.

So yes, I'm being obnoxious and moralistic,

Dakle, da, odvratan sam i morališem,

and I hand it to this guy, causing him some amount of pain,

i, odajem priznanje ovom momku, nanosim mu određenu količinu bola,

but an enormous amount of money

ali ogromna količina novca

is going to be given to people in great need.

će biti darivana ljudima u velikoj potrebi.

So the amount of happiness I’m creating

Pa količina sreće koju stvaram

outweighs the amount of pain and suffering.

prevazilazi količinu bola i patnje.

But the utilitarians also said

Međutim, utilitaristi takođe kažu

that when we're calculating the amount of happiness

da kada računamo količinu sreće

or pain we've created,

ili bola koje smo stvorili,

we can't just think about the one person we're dealing with,

ne možemo samo da mislimo na jednu osobu kojom se bavimo,

we have to think about the fact that everybody in our society

moramo da mislimo na činjenicu da će svako u našem društvu

will now both know this happened

sada znati da se to desilo

and will fear that it could someday happen to them.

i strahovati da bi se moglo jednog dana desiti njima.

And since we've already seen what a terrible, stinky world

A kako smo već videli koliko je užasan, gadan svet

I was trying to create,

koji sam pokušavao da stvorim,

everyone in our society would become a little bit bummed out and sad

svako u našem društvu će postati malčice snužden i tužan

by what I did,

zbog onog što sam uradio,

and so the total amount of pain and suffering I've created

pa bi ukupna količina bola i patnje koje sam stvorio

might actually outweigh the happiness.

mogla zapravo da premaši sreću.

I never got a straightforward answer, obviously,

Nikad nisam dobio direktan odgovor, očito,

because Aristotle never wrote

jer Aristotel nikad nije pisao

about, like, fender benders involving horse-drawn carriages

o lakšim saobraćajkama koje uključuju konjske zaprege

in ancient Athens.

u antičkoj Grčkoj.

But at the very least,

Ali, u najmanju ruku,

it sure felt like Jeremy Bentham

zasigurno se činilo da bi Džeremi Bentam

and John Stuart Mill would be a little disappointed in me.

i Džon Stjuart Mil bili malčice razočarani u mene.

And it sure felt like Aristotle would be a little annoyed,

I zasigurno se činilo da bi Aristotel bio malčice iznerviran,

and it sure felt like Immanuel Kant would wave a disapproving finger at me.

i zasigurno se činilo da bi Imanuel Kant mahao osuđujućim prstom prema meni.

And if all of the world's greatest philosophers

A ako su svi svetski filozofi

are on one side of a debate,

na jednoj strani debate,

and you are on the other side ...

a vi ste na drugoj...

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

You fucked up, OK.

Zabrljali ste, u redu.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

So I called the guy.

Pa sam nazvao čoveka.

I apologized profusely,

Od srca sam se izvinio.

I told him the entire story.

Ispričao sam mu čitavu priču.

He was very kind and forgiving,

Bio je ljubazan i milostiv,

which was an enormous relief to me.

što je bilo ogromno olakšanje za mene.

I told him I had already cut him a check, which was in the mail.

Rekao sam mu da sam već napisao ček, koji je bio u pošti.

I went back to the blog, I told everybody the outcome.

Vratio sam se na blog, ispričao svima za ishod.

Most people, not all, but most of them,

Većina ljudi, ne svi, ali većina,

thought it was a pretty happy outcome.

smatrala je da se radi o veoma srećnom ishodu.

I encouraged them to give money to the Red Cross anyway,

Ohrabrio sam ih da svakako daju novac Crvenom krstu

because giving money to hurricane victims is a nice thing to do,

jer je darivanje novca žrtvama uragana lep postupak,

and in the end,

i na kraju

more than 25,000 dollars was indeed donated

je preko 25 000 dolara zaista donirano

to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Crvenom krstu za pomoć žrtvama uragana Katrine.

Don't applaud that,

Ne aplaudirajte tome

because that's the happy result of a bad event.

jer se radi o srećnom ishodu lošeg događaja.

So why did this embarrassing, miserable mistake that I made

Dakle, zašto sam zbog ove sramotne, bedne greške koju sam napravio

make me want to continue to study moral philosophy?

poželio da nastavim da izučavam filozofiju morala?

If I told you that you were going to be on Jeopardy,

Kada bih vam rekao da ćete učestvovati u popularnom kvizu,

how would you prepare?

kako biste se pripremali?

You would read some trivia books and flip through a world atlas.

Čitali biste neke knjige sa trivijama i prelistavali svetski atlas.

If I told you that you were going to take a half-court shot

Ako bih vam rekao da ćete šutirati koš sa pola terena

at an NBA game

na En-Bi-Ej utakmici

for the chance to win 50,000 dollars,

za priliku da osvojite 50 000 dolara,

how would you prepare?

kako biste se pripremali?

You would get a basketball,

Nabavili biste košarkašku loptu,

you would go to the YMCA

otišli u salu

and you would practice hucking up half-court shots.

i vežbali biste postizanje koševa sa pola terena.

Well, you're probably never going to be on Jeopardy.

Verovatno nikada nećete biti u popularnom kvizu.

You are probably never going to take a half-court shot

Verovatno nikad nećete šutirati koševe s pola terena

at an NBA game

na En-Bi-Ej utakmici

for a chance to win 50,000 dollars.

za priliku da osvojite 50 000 dolara.

But you will, I guarantee it,

Hoćete se pak, to vam garantujem,

at some point,

u nekom trenutku

become embroiled in a complicated,

zapetljati u komplikovanu,

confusing, ugly, gut-wrenching moral dilemma.

zbunjujuću, gadnu, mučnu moralnu dilemu.

That is just a fact of life on Earth.

Prosto se radi o ovozemaljskoj činjenici.

There will be a dilemma in which there is no clear rule to follow.

Nastaće dileme bez jasnih pravila koje treba slediti.

There is only a kind of, vague investigation

Postoji samo nekakvo nejasno ispitivanje

and everything you do seems like it might be wrong.

i sve što radite se čini pogrešnim.

So how do you prepare for that?

Pa kako da se pripremite za to?

By reading theories of ethics

Čitanjem teorija o etici

and understanding what they say,

i razumevanjem o čemu govore,

what they mean,

šta znače,

how they purport to help us make better decisions

kako tvrde da nam pomažu da donosimo bolje odluke

and become better people.

i budemo bolji ljudi.

And by the way,

I, usput,

just reading these theories is no guarantee

puko čitanje ovih teorija nije garant

that you will actually make the right choice

da ćete zapravo doneti pravu odluku

when you're inside one of these complicated

kada se nađete unutar jedne od tih složenih

and tangled ethical dilemmas.

i zamršenih etičkih dilema.

You can take all the practice half-court shots you want

Možete da vežbate koliko hoćete šuteve sa pola terena

at the YMCA,

u košarkaškoj sali,

but when you set foot on the floor of the NBA arena,

ali kada zakoračite na teren En-Bi-Ej arene

and there are 15,000 screaming fans,

i tu je 15 000 fanova koji vrište,

you're probably still going to throw up an air ball, right?

i dalje ćete verovatno promašiti čitav koš, zar ne?

But if you've prepared,

Međutim, ako ste se spremali,

you will increase your odds of success.

uvećaćete sebi šanse za uspeh.

You will increase the chances that you sink the shot

Povećaćete šanse da ubacite loptu u koš

or that you at least get the ball close enough to the rim

ili da bar dobacite loptu dovoljno blizu oboda koša

that you don't embarrass yourself and become a meme.

da se ne osramotite i postanete mim.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Understanding ethical theories

Razumevanjem etičkih teorija

is how we increase our chances of success at simply being human beings

povećavamo šanse za uspeh u prostoj okolnosti da smo ljudska bića

who have to negotiate with other human beings.

koja moraju da pregovaraju sa drugim ljudskim bićima.

And to me, there is nothing more important than that.

A za mene ništa nije važnije od toga.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)