Ranking Without a Ruler

Ranking without a ruler handles a value conflict in five steps: name the values at stake, sort intrinsic from instrumental, test each option against each value, take any dominant option, and otherwise judge with reasons stated aloud.

A family weighs moving for a promotion. Step one, name the values: the parent's work, the children's stability, income, nearness to grandparents. Step two, sort: income is instrumental — it serves the others and gets no vote of its own beyond that service; stability and the grandparents are close to intrinsic here. Step three, the grid: option stay scores high on stability and family, flat on work; option move scores high on work and income's services, low on the rest. Step four, dominance: neither option wins on every value — no free verdict. Step five, judge aloud: "the children's next three years outweigh the career's next step, and the step will come again" is a ranking with reasons — challengeable, revisable, and honest about what it trades. The method never found a ruler; it found something better, a record of the weighing.