Samenvatting

Both the traditional liberal view of freedom as absence of paternalist state interference and the nonliberal Foucaultian analysis of modern governmentality as fully consisting of behavioural management cannot provide an adequate explanation or justification of the popularity of nudging. Alternatively, the theory of interactive metal fatigue shows why nudging is neither paternalist nor managerial; it is better understood as a much-needed and very contemporary way of assisting the modern individual who is no longer able to carry the full burden of his own emancipation. Nudging is thus found unobjectionable, and even beneficial, as long as it enables individuals to act in accordance with the emancipatory norms they themselves adhere to, but not always manage to act on, due to interactive metal fatigue.