Autonomy, Freedom and Rights: A Critique of Liberal Subjectivity / Edition 1

by Emilio Santoro

Overview

Autonomy, viewed as a subject's autonomous designing of her own distinctive 'individuality', is not a constitutive problem for liberal theory. Since its earliest formulations, liberalism has taken it for granted that protecting rights is a sufficient guarantee for the primacy of individual subjectivity. The most dangerous legacy of the 'hierarchical-dualist' representation of the subject is the primacy given to reason in defining an individual's identity. For Santoro freedom is not a fixed measure. It is not the container of powers and rights defining an individual's role and identity. It is rather the outcome of a process whereby individuals continuously re-define the shape of their individuality. Freedom is everything that each of us manages to be in his or her active and uncertain opposition to external 'pressures'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402014048
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	05/31/2003
Series:	Law and Philosophy Library , #65
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

1. Individual Autonomy and Freedom.- 2. A Genealogical Approach.- 3. Neo-Contractarianism and the Double Order of Desires.- Conclusion.- References.