ABSTRACT
The concept of autonomy, in the context of social work values, is constructed from several interlinking aspects. Physically, to exercise autonomy is the freedom to initiate one’s own actions; an independence from the constraints or supports of others. Morally, autonomy is crucial to the capacity not only to act according to one’s own reasoning and not under external influence, but also, in the Kantian tradition of moral philosophy, to follow rational, universal moral laws. The technical specificity of the concept itself can be difficult to articulate distinctly from the concepts it is so frequently aligned with, such as independence, freedom and determination. Indeed, the importance of autonomy as a social work value emerges from the professional status of the role. Within the history of ideas, the concept of autonomy takes on a principal moral and political role in the European Enlightenment and the development of a secular humanist modernity which followed.
