I find large opportunity set an inadequate definition of freedom. My working definition of freedom involves, in addition to a breadth of choices, the ability to make those choices of practical effect.
In other words, a naked man alone in the wilderness has nobody to tell him what he may not do, but in practice the only thing he can do is die. In the heart of a great city, there are in principle many restrictions on one's course of action, but in practice many, many courses of action are open. So I suspect that, overall, as social complexity increases, even though the constraints or thou shalt nots increase with that complexity, actual freedom increases more rapidly. Much undoubtedly depends on the details of the society.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 03:47 am (UTC)I find an inadequate definition of freedom. My working definition of freedom involves, in addition to a breadth of choices, the ability to make those choices of practical effect.
In other words, a naked man alone in the wilderness has nobody to tell him what he may not do, but in practice the only thing he can do is die. In the heart of a great city, there are in principle many restrictions on one's course of action, but in practice many, many courses of action are open. So I suspect that, overall, as social complexity increases, even though the constraints or s increase with that complexity, actual freedom increases more rapidly. Much undoubtedly depends on the details of the society.