Editing Benjamin Franklin (section)

===Decision-making===

In a 1772 letter to [[Joseph Priestley]], Franklin laid out the earliest known description of the Pro & Con list,<ref name="decisions">{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franklin |year=1975 |orig-year=1772 |chapter=To Joseph Priestley |editor-last=Willcox |editor-first=William Bradford |title=The papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 1 through December 31, 1772 |volume=19 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=299–300 |isbn=978-0-300-01865-3 |oclc=310601 |chapter-url=http://franklinpapers.org/yale?vol=19&page=299a }}</ref> a common [[decision-making]] technique, now sometimes called a [[decisional balance sheet]]:

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one ''Pro'', and over the other ''Con''. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason ''pro'' equal to some two Reasons ''con'', I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons ''con'' equal to some three Reasons ''pro'', I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly.<ref name="decisions" />}}