Abstract
This paper argues for a conception of autonomy that takes social oppression seriously without sapping autonomy of its valuable focus on individual self-direction. Building on recent work in relational accounts of autonomy, the paper argues that current conceptions of autonomy from liberal, feminist and critical theorists do not adequately account for the social features of belief formation. The paper then develops an alternative conception of relational autonomy that focuses on how autonomy contains both individualistic and social epistemic features. Rather than consider autonomy to reside in an impenetrable inner citadel, a place immune from external influences, the paper argues that we must acknowledge the hermeneutic relationship between individual and social processes of belief adjudication. Taking such an argument seriously results in the need to alter our conception of autonomy and the schooling needed to foster its growth.
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Notes
They do not use the language of autonomy explicitly in their writings, but I argue that their theoretical aims and concerns place their ideas within the autonomy framework.
Weberman imprecisely uses “ideological” pejoratively. I acknowledge that strictly speaking, ideology is a normatively neutral term. I accept his use in this discussion, though, because it is most often used negatively within educational literature.
I wish to thank an anonymous reviewer for pushing this and several other points regarding the relationships amongst rationality, autonomy, and the social origins of our beliefs. The probing questions and observations were quite helpful.
Albeit, I concede that such trivial choices might indeed matter a great deal because they create habits of autonomy or heteronomity that may impact more important decisions. In a general way, though, I still contend that the general assertion holds. While talking about the impossibility of making autonomous choices in every ethical situation one encounters because they would require one to “settle” one’s moral principles, Peters (1973) characterizes the person who would try to make every single moral decision autonomously a “moral imbecile.” His contention holds in most other situations as well. There are just too many trivial decisions that holding onto autonomy in a strict sense seems like a fruitless goal.
I thank an anonymous reviewer for raising questions about how the definition of autonomy I am offering here has important implications for both the marginalized and the privileged.
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Nelsen, P. Oppression, Autonomy and the Impossibility of the Inner Citadel. Stud Philos Educ 29, 333–349 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-010-9187-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-010-9187-6