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I'm looking for a word, or possibly a phrase, but preferably a single word, that describes the following:

An action/decision that is regarded as right by one but regarded as wrong by another.

Example:

Even when you are certain that you are in the right, you should refrain from _________'s, because you are in effect passing judgement onto yourself.

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    I think you meant "in effect passing judgement on yourself..."?
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 8:49
  • @chaslyfromUK "Passing judgment onto yourself" seems perfectly legit.
    – A.P.
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:38
  • @A.P. - I'm not sure what it means to say you pass something onto yourself, "I received a present that I didn't like so I passed it onto myself." (??) What do you think it means? Could you explain?
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:48
  • @chaslyfromUK that's ok, let me explain. First off, you can't just use it for any random sentence. When you pass something onto yourself, like judgement in this context, you are inviting ones criticism by doing something you are fully aware that they believe is wrong. It's something you expect to happen, therefore you are passing it onto yourself, whereas you could have prevented it.
    – Michael Rader
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:51
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    @MichaelRader - (A) One of us is crazy and I don't think it's me in this instance. Where in the ESV version does it say "pass judgement onto"? (B) What are you talking about. The ngram shows that "pass judgement on" is used frequently and "pass judgement onto" is never used". Are you trolling?
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 10:07

6 Answers 6

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It fits, but I wouldn't use it myself:

Even when you are certain that you are in the right, you should refrain from contentiousness, because you are in affect passing judgement onto yourself.

Used as a noun, but defined as an adjective:

  • Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial: a contentious issue.
  • Involving heated argument: the socio-economic plan had been the subject of contentious debate.
  • (of a person) given to provoking argument.
  • Law: relating to or involving differences between contending parties.

And if the disagreement drags on then you've got a bone of contention...

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  • Doesn't work, but I do like your mention of 'bone of contention' - upvote for that :)
    – Michael Rader
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:53
  • Doesn't work technically? Or you just don't like it? (I personally don't like it :)
    – Lamar Latrell
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 10:32
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That is an interesting question. It seems words from the semantic domain related to "judgment" might fit the bill.

How about you should refrain from value judgments because you are in effect passing judgment onto yourself?

A value judgment is defined as an evaluation based on personal values, rather than facts.

Might work in this context, since people are going to disagree about personal values. So a value will be "regarded as right by one but as wrong by another."

If one word is needed, a synonym to value judgment could be subjectivity.

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  • Well reasoned ...
    – Lamar Latrell
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 10:47
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It could be a

  • controversial
  • arguable
  • questionable

or

  • despotic

decision.

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  • No, I'm sorry these are not what I'm looking for.
    – Michael Rader
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 7:41
  • @MichaelRader Can you post an example?
    – Ormoz
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 7:42
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    Combined with decision they are all actions
    – Ormoz
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 8:24
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    @chaslyfromUK What's wrong with you should refrain from controversial decisions?
    – Ormoz
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 8:27
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    Haha! I read that as "What's wrong with you?" :-) Seriously though, the tag is 'single-word' and, at the last count, I made 'controversial decisions' two words.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 8:32
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Consider,

Even when you are certain that you are in the right, you should refrain from pertinaciousness, because you are in effect passing judgement onto yourself.

pertinacious: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design (M-W)

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How about Minority:

When it came what to do with the surplus, the city commissioner was in the minority.

How about Dissensus:

When it came to what to do with the surplus, the city commissioner was in Dissensus.

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  • You are way off my friend. Not even sure that you read the question.
    – Michael Rader
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 8:31
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An autonomous ethical decision

Ａｕｔｏｎｏｍｏｕｓ - Independent, self.

Ｅｔｈｉｃａｌ - What's right or wrong.

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4
  • I think your keyboard has diarrhea.
    – Michael Rader
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:55
  • lol. The box drawing looked good while editing in the text box but as soon as it posted the text wrapping and line widths just messed it all up. The struggles of unicode.
    – Alpha13Wolf
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 9:59
  • to make it a singular word instead descriptive phrase simply use autonomy - state of being autonmous, self government.
    – Alpha13Wolf
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 10:04
  • How does 'autonomy' convey an action/decision that is regarded as right by one but regarded as wrong by another?
    – Lamar Latrell
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 10:46

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