Transformative Experience

In Transformative Experience (2014), philosopher L.A. Paul explores a central problem in rational decision-making: how can we make rational choices about life-changing experiences when we cannot know what they will be like until we have them? Paul defines transformative experiences as those that are both epistemically transformative—they give us new kinds of knowledge that we could not have accessed beforehand—and personally transformative—they change our core preferences, values, and sense of self. Examples include becoming a parent, undergoing a religious conversion, or choosing a radically new career or identity.

Paul argues that traditional decision theory, which assumes that rational agents can assign utilities to outcomes based on their preferences, fails in these cases. Before having a transformative experience, one cannot know what the experience will be like or how one’s preferences will change as a result. For instance, someone deciding whether to have a child cannot accurately imagine what parenthood feels like or whether they will value it once they experience it. Thus, there is no stable preference structure or utility value to base the decision on.

This challenge undermines the assumption that major life choices can be made through rational calculation. Instead, Paul suggests that such decisions often rely on authenticity, narrative identity, or faith-like commitment rather than expected utility. People may choose transformative experiences not because they can rationally predict the best outcome, but because they value discovery, self-transformation, or living according to certain ideals.

Ultimately, Paul’s work reframes decision-making as not merely a matter of maximizing preference satisfaction but as an existential process shaped by uncertainty and personal change. Transformative Experience invites us to reconsider what it means to make a rational choice when the very act of choosing can alter who we are and what we value.