ABSTRACT
The traditional view of the autonomous political unit is that it is marked by independence from the laws and governance of others. To be autonomous in this sense is to be sovereign or to have unfettered authority within a specific political domain. But it is not defensible to think of personal autonomy as simply reducible to independence, whether from the state, from significant institutions, or from other individuals. Instead of thinking of individual autonomy as 'freedom from' the governance of others, it is more appropriate to understand it in a positive way as self-government or self-determination. Those stressing the tie between regarding themselves as moral agents and leading a principled existence have been most explicit about how personal autonomy is to be worked out in practice. The proponents of self-realisation as a character ideal underscore the critical importance of ensuring that the satisfaction of a person's desires do not run against the grain of that person's basic purposes.
