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Choice, freedom, and freedom of choice

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  • Ian Carter

Abstract

This paper argues in favour of a distinction between ‘freedom’ and ‘freedom of choice’ – a distinction that economists and political philosophers have so far either ignored or drawn wrongly. Drawing the distinction correctly may help to resolve a number of disputes in contemporary political philosophy and non-welfarist normative economics regarding the so-called ‘preference-based’ account of freedom and the relevance, to judgements about freedom, of degrees of similarity between agents’ options. The paper begins by setting out three much discussed axioms for the measurement of freedom (of choice?) originally put forward by Pattanaik and Xu. It is suggested that the problems these axioms give rise to can be solved by distinguishing correctly between ‘freedom’ and ‘freedom of choice’. The paper then sets out definitions of ‘freedom’, ‘choice’ and ‘freedom of choice’, justifying these in philosophical terms and arguing their superiority to alternative definitions. Finally, on the basis of these definitions and with reference to Pattanaik and Xu’s axioms, it is shown that an agent can enjoy freedom without enjoying freedom of choice, and that she can enjoy an increase in one of these without enjoying an increase in the other. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2004

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Carter, 2004. "Choice, freedom, and freedom of choice," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 22(1), pages 61-81, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sochwe:v:22:y:2004:i:1:p:61-81
    DOI: 10.1007/s00355-003-0277-z
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ronen Shnayderman, 2016. "Ian Carter’s non-evaluative theory of freedom and diversity: a critique," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 46(1), pages 39-55, January.
    2. Aveek Bhattacharya, 2020. "When and why might choice in public services have intrinsic (dis)value?," CASE Papers /220, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    3. Bhattacharya, Aveek, 2020. "When and why might choice in public services have intrinsic (dis)value?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121526, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Ian Carter & Stefano Moroni, 2022. "Adaptive and anti-adaptive neighbourhoods: Investigating the relationship between individual choice and systemic adaptability," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(2), pages 722-736, February.
    5. Antoinette Baujard, 2006. "Conceptions of freedom and ranking opportunity sets. A typology," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) 200611, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS.
    6. Rommeswinkel, Hendrik, 2011. "Measuring Freedom in Games," MPRA Paper 106426, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Mar 2021.
    7. Harsman Tandilittin, 2016. "What should the Government do to Stop Epidemic of Smoking among Teenagers in Indonesia?," Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(1), pages 140-140, March.

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