The sequence thesis of emancipation theory starts from a utility assumption: freedoms have utility for humans because our intellectual powers enable us to choose a course of action for a valued purpose. However, our potential to choose an action of our liking is not always readily usable: we need to control action resources to be able to do what we would like to. Control over action resources corresponds directly with existential conditions. Pressing conditions mean that action resources are largely beyond our control; permissive conditions mean the opposite.

Freedoms always embody potential utility: at any time, people could take advantage of freedoms if they only had the resources needed to do what they desire. Yet, the actual utility of freedoms varies because people’s control over action resources also varies. The persistence of freedoms’ potential utility is the seed of the human quest for freedoms; variation in their actual utility is the reason why the quest adapts.