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TOPIC: ISSUE136 - "The absence of choice is a circumstance that is very, very rare."
WORDS: 570 TIME: 0:54:41 DATE: 2007-1-4
To which extent the statement that the absence of choice is a very, very rare circumstance depends on how choice is defined. Fundamentally, I agree with the speaker that the existence of choice is almost absolute. However, the underlying philosophy of choice is somewhat complicated.
First of all, in an absolute sense, under the governance of physic laws, a person always has choices for things. People in the modern society encounter choices every hour and even every moment. Choices involve whether one should go to college or should enter the labour force, how many hours should be spent on work vis-a-vis leisure, whether to buy a cup of latte or a short black, and so on take place occasional, frequently or daily. It is little exaggerated to say we live by making choices. However, one may argue that, except in cases like we can not avoid the final dead, which a natural law, human still so time have no choice to do something. For example, an adult may argue that he/her has no choice but work. However, this is no completely true. One may still have the option to not work, relying on family subsidy or public welfare, and the accompanied lower social status, or even the hunger and dead from hunger. Though there are rare people who are sound but choose not to work and suffer hunger to dead, it can be an option anyway.
However, relatively speaking, that whether one feels to have choices or not in a particular circumstance is determined by the system of valuation and belief of this person. One who strongly believe one must highly independent of others may feel that he/her have no choice but work, while another one who believes his has greater pursuit may accept funds from others. For instance, while Karl Marx was completing this book of Theory of Capitalism, he was subsidized by his friends. He may have a choice like this, whether to earned him a living by pursuing an earthly work, or accept the financial help from friends and concentrate on work of creative thought. Hence, in the same circumstance, there can be choice for one person, but none for another as they consider psychologically.
Then, it leads to the question that whether one is able to choose what to believe and valuate, and if so to what extent he/she can. Undoubtedly, human does not have complete ability to choose their belief. Social culture, family background and genetic profile are largely out of control of human. Any there are numerous uncertainties along one's growth. An economic Nobel Prize winner used to say that he never knew he want to be economist until he excel as an economist, to address how fortunate for he to be an economist. Nevertheless, it is implausibly passive to deny the human effort to alter and design their own fates. Given known and unchangeable conditions, human are able to choose the option that, though difficult, helps to expand their pool of options in future. Therefore, if we think of choice as a link of options, rather than many discrete decisions, the absence of choice is even rarer.
In the final analysis, in a broader frame of consideration, where choice is thought as a continuous parameter, I believe that the absence of choice is really rare. People may think of themselves in a position of no choice. However, it is their anterior choices cause their belief of no choice. |
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