Final answer:
Doctrine provides a foundational starting point for decisions and encourages consistent and critical thinking. It serves as guidelines in various fields such as the military, philosophy, and policy-making. By applying doctrine, individuals and organizations can adopt a coherent and strategic approach to decision-making.
Step-by-step explanation:
Doctrine, when properly applied, establishes a foundation for decision-making by providing informed starting points on many issues. This informed starting point can lead to consistent thoughts and actions. The doctrines serve as a steady help and a stable doctrine, which encourages critical thinking and aids individuals in making the best-informed decisions. Instead of beginning from a blank slate, doctrines act like guidelines that shape strategy and practices, ensuring that subsequent decisions are consistently aligned with an overarching set of principles or beliefs.
The notion that doctrine provides a base for making informed decisions resonates with military strategy, philosophical thought, and policy development. Military strategy aligns with Sun Tzu's teachings about considering factors like discipline, strength, and rewards to forecast victory or defeat. Philosophically, it echoes the need to critically evaluate beliefs to adopt those most defendable. In policy development, doctrine can guide toward effective applications, such as in the policy of containment during the Cold War. Thus, doctrine forms a critical backdrop against which tactical and strategic decisions are gauged, ensuring uniformity and coherence in approach.
The references to strategic decisions also parallel the importance of modifying plans according to circumstances, which is reflected in both military tactics and broader decision-making frameworks where adopting and adapting to contemporarily defendable positions is vital for success and progress.