The Bull in the China Shop: A Discussion of an Ambiguity Within Pettit’s Theory of Freedom as Discursive Control (Book Review)

A discussion of Pettit, Philip, A Theory of Freedom: From the Psychology to the Politics of Agency, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2001. In Philip Pettit’s “A Theory of Freedom”, Pettit claims that being free to do something is being held responsible for what we do; so whatever theory of freedom we develop must allow the agent to be held responsible for the free actions that they do. In this paper I am going to examine Pettit’s claim about what a satisfactory theory of freedom would require, and discuss several ambiguities within the theory. However, within this reading two major interpretations may be taken: the first of which suggests that freedom can only be freedom when there is a moral ‘ought’ involved; the second is a more generous reading in which freedom includes all realms of responsibility.