Gustafsson, Carl Johan Eric orcid.org/0000-0002-9618-577X (2019) A Paradox for the Intrinsic Value of Freedom of Choice. Noûs. pp. 891-913. ISSN 1468-0068
Abstract
A standard liberal claim is that freedom of choice is not only instrumentally valuable but also intrinsically valuable, that is, valuable for its own sake. I argue that each one of five conditions should hold if freedom of choice is intrinsically valuable: First, if rational people may differ as to which option is the most preferred in an option set, the offered freedom of choice has some intrinsic value. Second, if an option set is expanded with an option that must be less preferred than the already available options by any rational person, the intrinsic value of the offered freedom of choice does not increase. Third, if an option set is expanded, the intrinsic value of the offered freedom of choice does not decrease. Fourth, if an option set has only one option, it does not offer any intrinsically good freedom of choice. And, fifth, the relation ‘at least as good freedom of choice as’ is transitive. The trouble is that there exists a counter-example to the conjunction of these conditions. Hence freedom of choice is not intrinsically valuable.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Philosophy (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2019 09:20 |
Last Modified: | 08 Feb 2025 00:33 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12290 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/nous.12290 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:144305 |
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