Yesterday’s post with Grok, a rather long one for this humble site, was necessary to explore Thomas Sowell’s conceptualization of constrained and unconstrained framing versus the one present at this site of What is Public and What is Private. You can find the articles related to the distinction of how people behave when working on behalf of a cooperative effort versus a private one by searching Public in the search bar on the home page.

Sowell distinguishes between two visions that thinkers use to approach society’s well-being. He names them: the constrained and the unconstrained. Yet he leaves room for all parties to acknowledge the existence of both. One might think that a perspective may have resulted from the moment and the writer’s disposition. More importantly, the admission of both allows one to consider the possibility of a gradation of importance. Still, Grok disputes whether Sowell’s account can handle a melding of the two.

However, its success hinges on overcoming the visions’ deep philosophical divide, which Sowell sees as nearly irreconcilable. The unconstrained vision’s North Star role risks dominating if not rigorously checked, as its moral urgency can overshadow constrained pragmatism. Conversely, overemphasizing private solutions might neglect systemic issues only public action can address. A robust institutional framework—perhaps decentralized governance with empirical feedback—would be crucial to balance these impulses.

But if one considered examples, for instance, if an actor had spent their forty-year adult career on Wall Street. Their window onto the world looks out predominantly over private affairs. The constraints and trade-off model make sense to them. That doesn’t mean they feel constrained in pursuing their passions. They would likely do anything for a child or their spouse’s health. Constraints be gone. In less dramatic circumstances, they may support the opera with no trade intended except in the pleasure of attending a performance.

Humans are complex. It’s not unreasonable to think they can act with dual motives. Bernie Sanders was recently criticised for flying in a private jet. Ayn Rand collected from the public purse. Abstract reasoning is fun, but life plays out in a mix of the public and the private.