A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered. As a person may
refuse to take that option, the choice is therefore between taking the option or not;
"take it or leave it". The phrase is said to originate with Thomas Hobson, a livery
stable owner in Cambridge, England. To rotate the use of his horses, he offered customers
the choice of either taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all.
Origins According to a plaque underneath a painting
of Hobson donated to Cambridge Guildhall, Hobson had an extensive stable of some 40
horses. This gave the appearance to his customers of having their choice of mounts when in fact
there was only one: Hobson required his customers to choose the horse in the stall closest to
the door. This was to prevent the best horses from always being chosen, which would have
caused those horses to become overused. An ultimatum game is a form of Hobson's choice.
Early appearances in writing According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
the first known written usage of this phrase is in The rustick's alarm to the Rabbies,
written by Samuel Fisher in 1660: "If in this Case there be no other then Hobson's
choice...which is, chuse whether you will have this or none."
It also appears in Joseph Addison's paper The Spectator; and in Thomas Ward's 1688 poem
"England's Reformation", not published until after Ward's death. Ward wrote:
"Where to elect there is but one, / 'Tis Hobson's choice—take that, or none."
Modern use The term "Hobson's choice" is often misused
to mean a false illusion of choice, but it is not a choice between two equivalent options,
which is a Morton's fork, nor is it a choice between two undesirable options, which is
a dilemma. Hobson's choice is one between something or nothing.
John Stuart Mill in his book Considerations on Representative Government refers to Hobson's
choice: "When the individuals composing the majority
would no longer be reduced to Hobson's choice, of either voting for the person brought forward
by their local leaders, or not voting at all." Again, John Stuart Mill in his book The Subjection
of Women discusses marriage : "Those who attempt to force women into marriage
by closing all other doors against them, lay themselves open to a similar retort. If they
mean what they say, their opinion must evidently be, that men do not render the married condition
so desirable to women, as to induce them to accept it for its own recommendations. It
is not a sign of one's thinking the boon one offers very attractive, when one allows only
Hobson's choice, 'that or none'.... And if men are determined that the law of marriage
shall be a law of despotism, they are quite right in point of mere policy, in leaving
to women only Hobson's choice. But, in that case, all that has been done in the modern
world to relax the chain on the minds of women, has been a mistake. They should have never
been allowed to receive a literary education." Differences
Hobson's choice is different from: Dilemma: a choice between two or more options,
none of which is attractive False dilemma: only two choices are considered,
when in fact there are others Catch-22: a logical paradox arising from a
situation in which an individual needs something that can only be acquired by not being in
that very situation Morton's fork, and a double bind: choices
yield equivalent, often undesirable, results Blackmail and extortion: the choice between
paying money and suffering an unpleasant action Malapropism
On occasion, speakers and writers use the phrase "Hobbesian choice" instead of "Hobson's
choice", confusing the philosopher Thomas Hobbes with the relatively obscure Thomas
Hobson. Notwithstanding that confused usage, the phrase "Hobbesian choice" is historically
incorrect. Historical and cultural references
Hobson's Choice is the title of a full-length stage comedy written by Harold Brighouse in
1915. At the end of the play, the central character, Henry Horatio Hobson, formerly
a wealthy, self-made businessman but now a sick and broken man, faces the unpalatable
prospect of being looked after by his daughter Maggie and her husband Will Mossop, who used
to be one of Hobson's underlings. His other daughters have refused to take him in, so
he has no choice but to accept Maggie's offer which comes with the condition that he must
surrender control of his entire business to her and her husband, Will.
The play was adapted for filming several times: Hobson's Choice by Percy Nash
Hobson's Choice by Thomas Bentley Hobson's Choice by David Lean
Hobson's Choice as a TV movie. Henry Ford was said to have offered the Ford
Model T with the famous Hobson's choice of "any color...so long as it is black". However,
Ford Model T's from the earliest days were actually offered in a variety of colours.
Law In Immigration and Naturalization Service
v. Chadha, Justice Byron White dissented and classified the majority's decision to strike
down the "one-house veto" as unconstitutional as leaving Congress with a Hobson's choice.
Congress may choose between "refrain[ing] from delegating the necessary authority, leaving
itself with a hopeless task of writing laws with the requisite specificity to cover endless
special circumstances across the entire policy landscape, or in the alternative, to abdicate
its lawmaking function to the executive branch and independent agency".
In Monell v. City of New York Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 the judgement
of the court was that
("[T]here was ample support for Blair's view that the Sherman Amendment, by putting municipalities
to the Hobson's choice of keeping the peace or paying civil damages, attempted to impose
obligations to municipalities by indirection that could not be imposed directly, thereby
threatening to 'destroy the government of the states'").
In the South African Constitutional Case MEC for Education, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Others v
Pillay, 2008 SA 474 Chief Justice Langa for the majority of the Court writes that:
"The traditional basis for invalidating laws that prohibit the exercise of an obligatory
religious practice is that it confronts the adherents with a Hobson’s choice between
observance of their faith and adherence to the law. There is however more to the protection
of religious and cultural practices than saving believers from hard choices. As stated above,
religious and cultural practices are protected because they are central to human identity
and hence to human dignity which is in turn central to equality. Are voluntary practices
any less a part of a person’s identity or do they affect human dignity any less seriously
because they are not mandatory?'".
Popular culture In The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket, the
Baudelaire orphans and Fiona are said to be faced with a Hobson's Choice when they are
trapped by the Medusoid Mycelium Mushrooms in the Gorgonian Grotto: "We can wait until
the mushrooms disappear, or we can find ourselves poisoned".
A well known line of the 1835 novel Le Père Goriot by French novelist Honoré de Balzac
is when Vautrin tells Eugene, "In that case I will make you an offer that no one would
decline." This has been reworked by Mario Puzo in the novel The Godfather and its film
adaptation; "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse", a line which was ranked as
the second most significant cinematic quote in AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes by the
American Film Institute. The Terminal Experiment, a 1995 science fiction
novel by Robert J. Sawyer, was originally serialised under the title Hobson's Choice.
See also
References
External links Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Hobson's Choice".
Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press.