Free Love Is a Compromise

“Having perpetual freedom in our romantic choices can be a mixed blessing,” says philosophy professor Aaron Ben-Zeév. “Boundaries are essential for human behavior…Sometimes the existence of too many options makes the task of choosing less attractive; consequently, there are some people who (occasionally) prefer others to make such choices for them. Barry Schwartz shows that too much freedom from constraints is bad, since unconstrained freedom may lead to paralysis and become a kind of self-defeating tyranny. He further argues that due to the multiplicity of choices available at all times and on all fronts, people no longer know how to be satisfied with ‘just good enough.’ They always seek perfection.”