Autonomy--A Genuinely Gradual Phenomenon

摘要

What does it mean to give oneself one's own law, to be autonomous in the literal sense of the word? What does it mean to govern oneself? How could one assess whether oneself or someone else decides autonomously or not? Autonomy remains an imperfectly defined concept that can be understood in many different ways, and its usage can vary even within disciplines. Additionally, conflating practical perspectives on autonomy withmetaphysical perspectives on free will that are frequently led by ambitious interpretations of scientific work on decision making confuses philosophical reasoning. Furthermore, due to the relevance for ascriptions of moral agency this has tremendous consequences for practical questions about responsibility, the role of choice in addiction, and questions of informed consent in clinical practice. Veljko Dubljevi? (2013) offers a helpful distinction between the metaphysical concept of free will and the political concept of autonomy. This distinction allows sorting arguments for one or the other concept, and it helps to free pragmatic questions from metaphysical burdens. One crucial aspect of autonomy that deserves further clarification relates to its very nature. Although autonomy is often treated as an absolute, it is indeed a phenomenon that is gradually gained during childhood and adolescence and evolves further during adulthood. Autonomy should not be viewed as an all-or-none phenomenon. One does not have it fully or not at all.Anindividual can have more or less self-governance capacities at each point in time throughout life, depending on a plethora of personal and circumstantial factors. In line with this perspective, Felsen and Reiner have argued that humans, as social beings, always to some degree depend on the influences of external factors while they master the process of rational decision making more or less successfully (Felsen and Reiner 2011). This understanding supports the description of autonomy as a gradual phenomenon that develops over time. Here, I provide two additional arguments to strengthen this perspective.