ABSTRACT
In this article, I analyze the treatment of the question of autonomy in Anne Conway’s The Principles of the most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1692) and discuss its relevance in the light of recent feminist critiques of the high value placed on autonomy by the Western philosophical tradition, which has been seen as devaluing relationships of interdependence. I show that within Conway’s philosophical system, autonomy co-exists with interdependence and that each of the three substances in her ontology enjoys an autonomy which is both limited and infinite. I then discuss the relationship between Conway’s version of monism, her defense of the autonomy of the soul, and issues of gender. In this context, I critique the tendency of 20th-century feminist scholarship to celebrate Conway primarily as an anti-dualist thinker whilst ignoring her emphasis on human autonomy in the sense of freedom to self-determination and self-perfection.
