Odysseus changes his mind about stabbing Polyphemus in the liver because, if he kills the Cyclops, there will be no one to move the stone door from the mouth of the cave, and he and his men will die inside. The stone is too large for even all of the men, working together, to move, and the Cyclops keeps decreasing their number by eating two of them for every meal.
Therefore, Odysseus must come up with an alternative plan to escape the Cyclops, some way in which they can wound him and render him incapable of catching them but still leave him healthy enough to move the stone door so that they actually have a way out. This is why he decides to blind Polyphemus. Losing his sight will make it more difficult for him to catch them, but he will still need (and be able) to move the stone away to let his animals out to pasture (or to get help for himself).
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