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How Changes In One'S Preferences Can Affect One'S Freedom (And How They Cannot): A Reply To Dowding And Van Hees

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  • Carter, Ian
  • Kramer, Matthew H.

Abstract

How is a person's freedom related to his or her preferences? Liberal theorists of negative freedom have generally taken the view that the desire of a person to do or not do something is irrelevant to the question of whether he is free to do it. Supporters of the “pure negative” conception of freedom have advocated this view in its starkest form: they maintain that a person is unfree to Φ if and only if he is prevented from Φ-ing by the conduct or dispositions of some other person(s) (Steiner, 1994; Carter, 1999; Kramer, 2003). This definition of freedom is value-neutral in the sense that no reference is made to preferences over options or indeed to any other indicators of the values of options, either in the characterization of “Φ-ing” itself (any conduct fits the bill) or in the characterization of the way in which Φ-ing can be constrained (any prevention counts as a constraint on freedom).

Suggested Citation

  • Carter, Ian & Kramer, Matthew H., 2008. "How Changes In One'S Preferences Can Affect One'S Freedom (And How They Cannot): A Reply To Dowding And Van Hees," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 81-96, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ecnphi:v:24:y:2008:i:01:p:81-96_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Kalle Grill, 2014. "Expanding the Nudge: Designing Choice Contexts and Choice Contents," Rationality, Markets and Morals, Frankfurt School Verlag, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, vol. 5(90), December.
    2. Athanassios Pitsoulis & Steffen Groß, 2015. "“The other side of the argument”: Isaiah Berlin versus F. A. von Hayek on liberty, public policies, and the market," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 475-494, December.

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