Something I try to use sometimes but not very consistently is something like:
“If this section of my life was a short story or a movie, would normal people think of me as a good character?”
Where by “a good character” I mean morally good/nice, and not interesting or complex.
This heuristic isn’t perfect because it likely overweights act/omission distinctions and as you imply, is a bad choice for big life decisions (Having a direct impact on individuals is likely a bad compass for altruistic career choice, grant decisions should not be decided by who has a more compelling story). I also think everyday ethics overvalues niceness and undervalues some types of honesty. But I think it’s a decent heuristic that can’t go very wrong as a representation of broad societal norm/ethics, which are probably “good enough” for most everyday decisions.
Something I try to use sometimes but not very consistently is something like:
Where by “a good character” I mean morally good/nice, and not interesting or complex.
This heuristic isn’t perfect because it likely overweights act/omission distinctions and as you imply, is a bad choice for big life decisions (Having a direct impact on individuals is likely a bad compass for altruistic career choice, grant decisions should not be decided by who has a more compelling story). I also think everyday ethics overvalues niceness and undervalues some types of honesty. But I think it’s a decent heuristic that can’t go very wrong as a representation of broad societal norm/ethics, which are probably “good enough” for most everyday decisions.