ABSTRACT
Heteronomy was reserved in Kant's thought for anything that might be considered the result of natural causality. The refusal of heteronomy promotes the monadological self as the dear and indivisible ground for thought. The ground of dignity is autonomy, but the ground of objective dignity is heteronomy, that is, it is provided through a necessary relation with others. The exclusive logic of autonomy is extended to any address, any command, that does not originate in the subject, or at least pass through the subject in order that it may be given legitimacy. The Idea of autonomy rests on a subject that may not be able to nominate its realm as the truth, but has its realm nevertheless and legislates for itself there. Autonomy, conceived as the priority of the addresser instance and the foundation of the ethical, in fact refuses the ethical by severing the link with exteriority.
