ABSTRACT
This chapter presents four conceptions of autonomy, drawn from the philosophical literature on children. It considers how these different accounts of self-governance bear on the question of whether children are autonomous and raises some concerns about each view. The chapter argues that autonomy develops in domain-specific degrees and that children are capable of more autonomy than is commonly recognized. It concludes with a brief discussion of how children’s moral and political entitlements are affected by these results, arguing that we ought to interfere less often in children’s attempts at self-governance than we presently do.
