ABSTRACT
One of the most striking features of autonomy is its theoretical ubiquity. It is a concept that is appealed to across a wide range of fields of enquiry, from bioethics, to philosophy of education, to human rights. Of the three fields of enquiry to be considered in this chapter, paternalism presupposes the tightest connection to autonomy. Paternalism involves interfering with a person for the purpose of advancing or protecting her wellbeing, without regard for her will. It is something of a platitude to say that paternalism is problematic only insofar as it conflicts with autonomy. Uni-dimensional theories fail to adequately track the distinction between hard and soft paternalism because they lack the complexity to distinguish between relevantly different autonomy failures. Consent, at heart, is a normative power. When an agent consents, she is effecting a change on the normative landscape.
