PHIL 377 - Autonomy

3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail
Course can be counted for credit once

Description:
Individual autonomy, or the capacity for self-governance, plays an important role in our lives. When we possess this capacity, we can live a life in accordance with our own values and preferences, and we have the power to demand a distinctive kind of respect from others, namely that they not interfere with our life choices. However, while most philosophers agree about the value and power of autonomy, they disagree about the conditions for self-governance. The purpose of this course is to provide an advanced survey of this disagreement. Some philosophers argue that autonomy is a non-social concept: the capacity for self-governance is simply a matter of possessing certain competencies, or attaining a particular kind of psychic unity, or a responsiveness to reasons. Others argue that autonomy is inherently social: the capacity for self-governance requires dialogue with others, or recognition from others, or the ability to resist being subject to a foreign will. This course relates these differing conceptions to issues of whether and how manipulation, dementia, addiction, procrastination, identity, socialization, oppression, and love can undermine one’s capacity for self-governance.

Enrollment Requirements:
Prerequisite: 100 PHIL or 108 or 130G or 207G or 222 or 286

041259:1

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