Abstract

ALVAREZ, Silvina. Personal and Relational Autonomy. Anal. filos. [online]. 2015, vol.35, n.1, pp.13-26. ISSN 1851-9636.

Many authors have written about autonomy focusing mainly on the capacity of the autonomous agent for identifying preferences and making decisions. These authors -C. Nino among them- do not take into consideration further elements or conditions for being autonomous. However, it is necessary to take other aspects into consideration; mainly it is important to take account of both options and the building of the agent’s preferences. This way, autonomy normative aspects will be better understood. I propose here to analyse the concept of "relational autonomy", which has been largely elaborated within feminist theory. My aim is to incorporate relations and options to the core of the concept of personal autonomy. In this article, I will define personal autonomy first, highlighting the importance of relevant options. Second, I will describe the way options are built and their perception by the agent. Finally, I will focus on the context and relations on the background, and I will propose the notion of relational options.

Keywords : Personal Autonomy; Relational Autonomy; Independence; Opportunities; Options; Social Context; Relational Context.

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