Autonomy and Its Social Contexts

Autonomy is a fact of modern life. In Western liberal societies, we not only naturally assume ourselves to be autonomous, we also are supposed to be autonomous (think of deciding which car insurance you need, how to design your new kitchen, or how you make medical decisions). However, numerous obstacles – including structural as well as individual barriers - challenge the possibility of self-determination.  

Prof. Roessler will have a look at structural obstacles, such as structural sexism and racism and other injustices, as well as individual hindrances, such as a lack of self-knowledge and alienation. These tensions between an autonomous self-understanding and the different obstacles is the topic of the lecture.  

Prof. Roessler will defend a concept of autonomy that is suitable for everyday use, but which cannot simply be reduced to different practical circumstances and would thereby lose its critical function. From this perspective, autonomy is not something that simply happens to us—we often have to strive to be autonomous.  What interests me is how best to talk about the limits and at the same time about the possibilities of this autonomy. 
 

About the speaker

Beate Roessler is professor emerita of philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Before Amsterdam, she taught philosophy at the Free University, Berlin, and at the University of Bremen, Germany. Her book on Autonomy was published in 2017 (with Suhrkamp) and in English (with Polity Press) in 2022. Her edited volume (together with Valerie Steeves) is on the Being Human in the Digital World and is coming out in May 2025 with Cambridge UP.