Autonomy, Education, and Societal Legitimacy
I argue that autonomy should be interpreted as an educational concept, dependent on many educative institutions, including but not limited to government. This interpretation will improve the understanding of autonomy in relation to questions about institutional and societal legitimate authority. I aim to make plausible three connected ideas. (1) Respecting individual autonomy, properly understood, is consistent with an interest in institutions in social and political philosophy. Such interest, however, does require a broadening of questions about institutional and societal legitimacy. (2) Individual autonomy can and should be re-conceived as a multi-institutional educational notion. We must appreciate the manifold institutional process. There are diverse questions about legitimacy as institutional and societal authority that generate normative demands binding on the individual. (3) There is some uncertainty about which institutions do or should educate for autonomy. The shift to an educational, multi-institutional model of autonomy renders more questionable and probably de-emphasizes the role of blame and punishment as paradigmatically institutionalized expressions of respect for autonomy in educating for autonomy. Nonetheless, such an educational model does not eliminate concern about autonomy, blame and punishment. Rather, it broadens questions about the legitimacy of the normative function of various institutions, and of society as a whole.
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This paper is intended to make it plausible to believe three connected propositions. The paper is about the variety of social institutions that educate persons (for good or ill) about normative issues. It is about some connections betw...
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...cially p. 57.
(12) Interestingly, Joel Feinberg is aware of the possible future decay of the nation-state, and he concedes that this might require some adjustments in our thinking about the analogy between autonomous individuals and autonomous states. Feinberg, however, does not seem to favor or even entertain the idea that if there were fundamental institutional changes, we might do well to modify our reliance on analogies between individual persons and states so far as the theory of autonomy is concerned. See Harm to Self, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986, pp. 50-51.
Feinberg is here commenting on autonomy as the "sovereign authority to govern oneself". His position seems puzzling for many reasons, especially in its unsupported assertion that even if a sense of world community grows, we ought to continue to model individual autonomy on the nation-state.
What autonomy does is it helps stimulates an atmosphere of self-improvement in a community rather than people being dependent on others. Besides not using people as mere means O’Neill believes in helping develop others’ ends so that they can be independent.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the early 1900s? The turn of the century left Americans feeling more optimistic about life (Woog 4). People were honest and kind (Woog 5). The 1900s can be remembered as a happy time, but also a time of hardship for some Americans (Woog 5). Theodore Roosevelt, President 1901-1910, guided America in a way in which he created laws to help the social and economic problems of the time as well as improving politics by being a strong leader and recognizing the true needs of the country.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of our greatest presidents. He created the FDA and improved the position of the presidency greatly. Before Theodore came to be president, the position of presidency was slow and wasn’t very interesting so he made the executive branch more powerful by starting new reforms and a strong foreign policy. The life of a president is hard. It is full of stress, responsibilities, and a strong dedication the welfare of your country. Theodore had to deal with all of these presidential stresses, taking up much of his time. Do you know, though, that despite being a president, he led a life of excitement and freedom that many other presidents had never before experienced? Theodore, “Teddy” as his first wife Alice called him, Roosevelt was more than just our president, he was a dedicated author who wrote many books; he was also a rancher, and, surprisingly, he was a big time hunter. Even though Theodore Roosevelt was a president, his life was filled with exciting adventure, times of hardships, responsibilities to many, and influences upon many government positions.
Ingram, J. (2013, March 6). Costco CEO - Panderer or economic illiterate?. Examiner.com. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.examiner.com/article/costco-ceo-panderer-or-economic-illiterate
Should humans be autonomous or responsible? In other words, should they follow the convictions of their own hearts or surrender their ideals to another power presumed to be superior in its wisdom? This dilemma between autonomy and responsibility presents itself constantly. The struggles over abortion, euthanasia, and drug legalization are perfect examples. In each of these cases, individuals are either pushing for stronger individual rights (the freedom to make decisions regarding their own lives) or a stronger stance on the behalf of their government (to legally prevent individuals from making bad decisions).
Using autonomy as effective deliberation which relates autonomy as having “to do with the rationality of a person’s thought process” (Yeo & Moorhouse, 1996, p. 94), it could be confirmed using the results of the capacity assessments as evidence, that Ms. R is rational and making this decision with competent deliberation. Mr R’s decision can additionally be justified using autonomy as authenticity, which assesses the consistency of a person 's choice with their “settled dispositions, values and characters” (Yeo & Moorhouse, 1996, p. 94). Since Ms. R is a 59 year old woman who has been living alone, her choice to remain home is authentic and no different than what she has been doing
The Modified Labelling Theory, created by Link et al., (1989) hypothesized that individuals who were labeled as mentally ill, would manage the stigma they faced through three coping mechanisms; education, withdrawal and secrecy (as cited in Ray & Brooks Dollar, 2014). The Modified Labelling Theory is a credible theory that has been used to approach not only the repercussions of stigma in mental illness, but also to explain behaviours of those who smoke, live with HIV/AIDS, or have a child with a disability (Ray & Brooks Dollar,
Autonomy does have its advantages and disadvantages. One perk to autonomy is that it allows us to make decisions that we feel are in our best interests, as long as they either, do not affect those around us or are beneficial for them as well. As long as choices made based on autonomy are a result of the person acting on relevant, settled, preferred, and their own preferences; paternalistic intervention is not justified. However, autonomy is one of the easily lost characteristics. As I mentioned above, once an addictive substance has entered your life due to an autonomistic decision, your autonomy is lost. The addiction takes over and you can neith...
Chomsky, Noam. Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs. Cambridge, MA: South End, 2000. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .
...ty exclusive of external authorities. Second, in terms of domestic sovereignty, for fairly long time the political structures of states have been following the global trends, from monarchy, to republics, to democratic states most recently. From above we can see that both domestic sovereignty and Westphalian sovereignty are facing challenges all the time, which are not new, but characteristic from time to time. Since sovereignty is the core value of a state, it is reasonable to conclude that nation-state is challenged by globalization but its power is not undermined.
Self-determination or the right of nations to self-determination is the right countries have to choose their sovereignty or who/what rules them without other countries telling them to do so. In this essay I am going to look into what role self-determination had in the unification of the German states.
Where this structure is present we may legitimately speak of human society, together with its sovereign, as a single independent state, and we may also speak of its law. Where this structure is absent we cannot legitimately apply those expressions, because the relation of the sovereign to the subjects constitutes, according to this theory, part of the very meaning of those expressions [2].
When Kant says, "For when moral value is being considered, the concern is not with the actions, which are seen, but rather with their inner principles, which are not seen," in page 19, he is suggesting that a person's true motives behind the action are more important in determining if the action holds true moral value. As Jonathan Bennett, a British philosopher of language and metaphysics who translated Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, says, when moral worth is in question it is not a matter of visible actions but of their invisible inner principles (Bennett, 19). Kant explains that a human being might have inclinations, reasons for doing something, beyond moral reasons. Inclinations are motives (desires, interests, incentives, fears, or impulses) that one may possess, but will sometimes seem hidden when performing an action. If there lies a motive behind carrying out an action, aside for the sake of duty alone, then it can be considered to be i...
Autonomy meaning the capacity to make an informed and unforced decision. This is the freedom people have fought for since the beginning of humanity. There has always been a restriction, always been boundaries, always someone telling you what to do. For example, when you graduate and you 're going to college. you are not only coerced by yourself, peers, and your parents, but by the university as well. Those universities that send more letters, that will give you more money, those who are always remembering your email. They 're always there waiting for your decision screaming their amount and their worth. In the end basically clouding your judgment and eliminating the idea of autonomy. Ultimately the university you go to is your choice but is
Simultaneous communication, also known as Sim-com is a form of communication process that utilizes both signs and sound. Quite often Sim-com has been referred to as a sign supported speech; these signs are usually in English in order to ensure that there is fluency in the language. In this, it is noted that some other non-verbal cues like the use of finger spelling and visual aids which rhyme to the spoken language can be used. Simultaneous communication has always been known to be a form of communication that is intended to help people who have hearing problems (deaf) understand what is being said. In this, it is realized that over the years, Sim-com has been able to utilize other systems of communication like seeing essential English. Sim-com has proven its advantageous use in both the deaf and hearing people because it presents both the spoken language and also the non-verbal. Simultaneous language is not only used by the deaf, but also used when communicating with students at the preschool level. This is important because these children tend not to understand verbal communication fully (Beginnings, 2014).