Whittingham, Fiona; (2021) Towards a Horizontal Theory of Autonomy. Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis criticises 'hierarchical' accounts of personal autonomy, and outlines the core features of an alternative, 'horizontal' account. It specifically focuses on the conditions of autonomous action. The current dominant approaches to the phenomenon of personal autonomy, or self-governance, tend to isolate certain privileged aspects of the self, that wield control when an agent is autonomous. In this sense, they can be labelled as 'hierarchical' accounts. For instance, Frankfurt's early (1971) account bases the conditions for autonomous action in conformity with an individual's higher-order volitions. However, I argue that such 'hierarchical' approaches are unsatisfactory. Bringing in considerations from Buss (1994, 2013), I argue that they are unable to adequately account for the phenomenon of nonautonomous action, or to explain how these privileged aspects of the soul exert authority over the rest. Instead, I argue for a 'horizontal' account of the self-relation involved when an individual acts autonomously. Such an account does not locate the conditions for autonomous action in some limited subsection of the self, but instead takes a more holistic approach to the aspects of the self that can be involved in self-governance. I suggest that the positive conditions for personal autonomy can instead be understood to involve the individual's conceptualisation of the decision-situation before them, and the range of factors incorporated into their decision-making. Under this kind of account, personal autonomy is a notion admitting of degrees.

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