Aggregation and Distribution of Freedom

Abstract

The final area of inquiry into freedom raises issues of aggregation and distribution. The central question concerning the aggregation and distribution of liberty in a society is ‘can the arrangements which affect freedom be managed to alter the overall level of freedom, or are we able only to alter the distribution of freedom?’ On the variable sum view, it is possible to increase or reduce the overall level of freedom in society, and in general we should aim to maximise or at least increase that overall level wherever possible. On the zero sum view, we cannot alter the overall level of freedom in society, since one person’s freedom is necessarily at another person’s expense, and therefore the sum total of freedom is always constant (sums to zero). All that we can do is to alter the way in which freedom is distributed, and the aim should be to distribute freedom as fairly as possible. In this chapter, I discuss the coherence of these two sets of arguments. But, first, a note about the conceptions of freedom to be employed in discussing aggregative and distributive issues. At first sight, it would seem likely that the choices conception, the status conception, the self-determination conception and the self-mastery conception would each yield a variable sum view of freedom, since simultaneously everyone can have more choices made available to them, or have more civil and political rights, or become more autonomous, or develop more self-control.