Freedom as Structured Availability: 1 The Illusion of Libertarian Freedom

When most people think of freedom, they imagine a state in which constraints vanish: the self acts independently, unbounded by circumstances or rules. This classical, libertarian intuition sees freedom as the absence of constraint, as if choice could exist in a vacuum.

Relational ontology immediately exposes this as a conceptual illusion. Once we understand that all events unfold within networks of constraints and dependencies, the idea of freedom as “constraint-free” action becomes incoherent. Every choice, every action, every apparent deviation occurs because of, not despite, the relational architecture. There is no metaphysical void in which a free agent hovers — there is only structured possibility.

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Freedom Is Not Absence of Constraint

Consider a musician improvising a melody:

• The notes chosen are not “uncaused.”

• Each note is feasible given the previous notes, the instrument, the musician’s technique, and the music theory conventions being followed.

• Constraints are not enemies of freedom; they are the architecture that makes choice intelligible.

Remove the constraints, and there is no coherent music — only noise. Freedom, in this sense, emerges from the relational structure itself, not from escaping it.

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The Classical Misstep

Libertarian freedom rests on two hidden assumptions:

1. That agents can act independently of context

2. That constraints reduce freedom, rather than shaping it

Both are false in a relational reading. Constraints do not limit freedom; they define the landscape in which freedom can occur. Choice is always a local actualisation of feasible paths; the richer the landscape of structured availability, the more expansive the freedom.

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Structured Possibility

We can begin to formalise this idea:

• Every agent, system, or event exists within a network of compatibilities and constraints.

• A “free” action is simply the actualisation of a path through this network where alternatives exist and constraints permit divergence.

• Freedom is structured availability, not absence.

In short:

You are never outside constraints. You are free to the extent that your constraints afford multiple minimally costly paths.

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Why This Matters

1. It dismantles the intuitive but incoherent idea of metaphysical escape.

2. It prepares the ground to see choice, decision, and agency as emergent from relational architecture.

3. It connects directly to the previous series on causation, showing that freedom and causation are two sides of the same structural principle.