Another way to look at the question:
When a person points a gun at me, and says 'pick the red shirt'. Whose will is it that I pick the red shirt? I think it should be apparent that it is the gunholder's will. The gunholder can freely choose between all the different shirts I have (He is still constrained by what shirts I own of course) without any coercive force. He is the thing that makes the decision. While I employ my will to pick up the shirt etc, I am not doing so freely since there is an external (to me) force (viz. a fashion conscious gunman)
You could let him shoot you.
Is coercion a restriction on freedom of will?
People are coerced all of the time into making choices they otherwise wouldn't make. I'm coerced into taking the longer route to work every day because the government decides to construct the road system in a grid instead of cutting through all those meddling parkinglots between my place and where I work.
Does this
really hamper my freedom of will?
I don't feel as though it does. And the government doesn't either.
Jon
Edited by Jon, : No reason given.
Love your enemies!
™ Version 4.2
