Are there any articles (or otherwise) that discuss the idea that the set-theoretic universe should be as "free" as possible?

Question

Question. Are there any articles (or otherwise) that discuss (and perhaps attempt to formalize) the idea that the set-theoretic universe should be as "free" as possible?

Discussion. Philosophically speaking, a structure is free iff it has

1. no inaccessible elements (hence very few substructures), and
2. no unnecessary identifications (hence very many quotients.)

Now suppose we take the viewpoint that the set-theoretic universe should be as "free" as possible. Then condition (1) suggests a variety of axioms, all of which are somehow kind of "limiting":

• "no inaccessible elements" suggests that "no inaccessible cardinals" is a reasonable axiom.
• "very few substructures" suggests that $V=L$ is a reasonable axiom (since if I recall correctly, $V=L$ is somehow equivalent to saying that the universe has no proper inner models.)

The problem is that if $V=L$ holds, then so too does GCH, and my gut feeling is that GCH implies that "the universe is chock-full of unnecessary identifications, and has very few quotients." So this kind of violates condition (2).

In conclusion, it seems that its very hard to get this "maximize freeness" idea off the ground. I'd like to know if anyone has had any more luck than me with the problem, hence the question.