ABSTRACT
In this chapter I intend to utilize Foucauldian insights in order to examine the issue of autonomy in liberal theory drawing on scholarship from both political philosophy and education. I will start by exploring the work of James D. Marshall, a New Zealand philosopher of education who has written extensively on both Foucault and the subjects of liberal theory and autonomy. After considering Marshall, I will take up my own ‘Foucauldian-inspired’ approach to autonomy in liberal theory and argue that the central insights of the claims made for the concept are in need of serious qualifi cation, if they are indeed retainable in any sense at all.
