[Quote From a Book (XII)]: “Choices have expressive functions only to the extent that we…”
Published in
Aug 30, 2022
“[C]hoices have expressive functions only to the extent that we can make them freely. For example, consider the marital vow to stay together “for better for worse,…till death do us part.” If you have no way to get out of a marriage, marital commitment is not a statement about you; it’s a statement about society. If divorce is legal, but the social and religious sanctions against it are so powerful that anyone who leaves a marriage becomes a pariah, your marital commitment again says more about society than it does about you. But if you live in a society that is almost completely permissive about divorce, honoring your marital vows does reflect on you.”
— Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
