Autonomy and the principle of respect for autonomy.

The arguments of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill concerning the principle of respect for autonomy are summarized as exemplars respectively of the deontological and utilitarian philosophical approaches.

Abstract

Autonomy is defined as the capacity to think, decide, and act freely\nand independently on the basis of such thought and decisions. Three types of\nautonomy are distinguished: autonomy of thought, which embraces the wide range\nof human intellectual activities called "thinking for oneself"; autonomy of\nwill, or the capacity to decide to do things on the basis of one's\ndeliberations; and autonomy of action, the absence of which is illustrated by\nthe situation of a patient whose voluntary muscles are paralyzed by curariform\ndrugs and who thus cannot tell the surgeon that the anesthetist has forgotten\nthe nitrous oxide. Autonomy is viewed as a prerequisite for all the virtues,\nrather than as a virtue in its own right. The arguments of Immanuel Kant and\nJohn Stuart Mill concerning the principle of respect for autonomy are\nsummarized as exemplars respectively of the deontological and utilitarian\nphilosophical approaches. (KIE abstract)