Everything has an alternative. Any material object that we set our eyes on has an alternative. Our choices have a parallel alternative choice.
No tomatoes left, Anuja. Can we use tomato sauce instead?
It’s time to get a new toothbrush. Is danta manjan (tooth powder) still viable and available? Does the neighborhood drug store have bamboo toothbrushes?
Alternatives offer freedom. Boycotting is easy when you have an alternative.
Freedom of choice does not always equate to freedom. “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.“*
Every choice affects another choice, yours or somebody else’s. A lack of choice, a lack of alternative, is where a potential alternative resides.
Decisions, decisions! Possibilities, possibilities!
Do you belong to this world, or an alternate one?
*Carter, Ian. “Choice, Freedom, and Freedom of Choice.” Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 22, no. 1, 2004, pp. 61–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41106593.
Hard to understand what is meant in that paper (especially since it is not freely available to read.) Without choice, how can one have freedom?
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Hey Steve! Long time.
I’m sorry that this paper is not freely accessible, some of Jstor articles are free to read with a free account but unfortunately this one isn’t. Such an irony (lack of choice but to buy it! :D)
Regarding your question, I tried to remember myself as a child. I had limited choices as the choices were given by my parents. Lack of choice did not mean I wasn’t free. Does that make sense? I hope. :)
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With respect, Anuja, perhaps you were simply content with the choices you were offered.
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Well put, Steve. Can we say being content sets us free?
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