Personal Autonomy: New Essays on Personal Autonomy and its Role in Contemporary Moral Philosophy

Autonomy has recently become one of the central concepts in contemporary moral philosophy and has generated much debate over its nature and value. This is the first volume to bring together original essays that address the theoretical foundations of the concept of autonomy, as well as essays that investigate the relationship between autonomy and moral responsibility, freedom, political philosophy, and medical ethics. Written by some of the most prominent philosophers working in these areas today, this book represents cutting-edge research on the nature and value of autonomy that will be essential reading for a broad swathe of philosophers as well as many psychologists.

• Autonomy has some cross-over to Psychology also • Some leading figures in the field contributing to the volume, e.g. Michael Bratman, Alfred Mele, Susan Wolf, Thomas Beauchamp, R. G. Frey

Introduction James Stacey Taylor; Part I. Theoretical Approaches to Personal Autonomy: 1. Planning agency, autonomous agency Michael Bratman; 2. Autonomy without free will Bernard Berofsky; 3. Autonomy and the paradox of self-creation Robert Noggle; 4. Agnostic autonomism Alfred Mele; 5. Feminist intuitions and the normative substance of autonomy Paul Benson; 6. Autonomy and personal integration Laura Waddell Ekstrom; 7. Responsibility, applied ethics, and complex autonomy theories Normy Arpaly; Part II. Autonomy, Freedom and Moral Responsibility: 8. Autonomy and free agency Marina A. L. Oshana; 9. The relationship between autonomous and morally responsible agency Michael McKenna; 10. Alternative possibilities and personal autonomy Ishtiyaque Haji; 11. Freedom within reason Susan Wolf; Part III. The Expanding Role of Personal Autonomy: 12. Procedural autonomy and liberal legitimacy John Christman; 13. The concept of autonomy in bioethics: an unwarranted fall from grace Thomas May; 14. Who deserves autonomy and whose autonomy deserves respect? Tom L. Beauchamp; 15. Autonomy, diminished life, and the threshold for use R. G. Frey.

‘This collection brings together the most important new work being done on personal autonomy today. Its distinguished list of contributors explain and develop their approaches to the central problems of autonomy both in theory and in practice. This work will surely become the standard textbook on autonomy for philosophy students today.’

– John Davenport, Fordham University