ON PREFERENCE AND FREEDOM

We consider the role of preferences in the assessment of an agent's fr eedom, visualized as the opportunity for choice. After discussing seve ral possible intuitive approaches to the problem, we explore an approa ch based on the notion of preference orderings that a reasonable perso n may possibly have. Using different sets of axioms, we characterize t he rules for ranking opportunity sets in terms of freedom. We also sho w that certain axioms for ranking opportunity sets are incompatible.