The Relationship Between Autonomy and Having Choices.

I aim to explore the relationship between autonomy and having choices. I do so primarily because I think the picture of that relationship is clear in broad outline but rather murky in the particulars. Having choices is a necessary condition of autonomy. On this all defenders of autonomy are agreed. But how many choices, what kind of choice, and when is choice important? Can these questions be answered with any precision? The essay proceeds in four sections. In the first section, I examine two views with implications for the quantity of choice that is important to autonomy. In the second section I take up considerations of the quality and significance of choices. Moving away from an examination of the properties of choice necessary to autonomy, the third section examines the relationship between choice and the autonomous agency and endorsement. I discuss here how the mark of an autonomous person is not that she enjoys a wide array of choices but is found, rather, in the manner in which she cleaves to or endorses her ends. I also discuss the role of choice in the formation of autonomy and the exercise of a mature or fully-formed autonomous character. The final section offers some brief reflections on the implications of the paper for debates in political theory, discussing how over-emphasizing the role of choice can distort the picture of autonomy and its value in liberal theory. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]