ABSTRACT

The exercise of personal autonomy may be viewed as intrinsically desirable or valuable given its fundamental place in the concept of moral personality, without its exercise on particular occasions being act-evaluatively for the best, or even for the good. The instrumental view that the value of autonomy is a function of what is chosen is a claim in the realm of 'act evaluation'. The view that autonomy has intrinsic value independent of what is chosen focuses instead on 'agent evaluation'. That position on autonomy which values it instrumentally is frequently taken to be narrowly utilitarian, the value of autonomy being identified with the utility of the goods which it makes possible. A common theme of those who place an instrumental value on autonomy is that it enables individuals to develop and pursue new aspects of their chosen way of life or to redirect that life in accordance with important new interests.