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‘I Did it My Way’: some thoughts on autonomy
Author(s) -
NORMAN RICHARD
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9752.1994.tb00310.x
Subject(s) - autonomy , value (mathematics) , epistemology , democracy , constraint (computer aided design) , action (physics) , sociology , personal autonomy , social psychology , psychology , political science , law , philosophy , computer science , mathematics , politics , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics , machine learning
This paper addresses three questions raised by recent literature on the concept of ‘autonomy’. (I) Should the value of autonomy more properly be seen as a moral constraint or as a goal of action? (2) Is autonomy either possible or desirable, given the ways in which human beings are located within a situation and a community? (3) If autonomy is a desirable goal, is it a universal value or merely one appropriate to modern liberal‐democratic societies? Use is made of the distinction between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ versions of the concept of ‘autonomy’, which helps to provide an answer to the first question. It is also important, however, to recognise the continuity between the weak and strong versions, and this recognition helps to supply answers to the second and third questions.