Autonomy Unbound / Edition 1

by Paul Barry Clarke

Overview

First published in 1999, this volume examines how the question of autonomy has come to be of recent interest in political theory. The author argues that autonomy goes deep into the Western consciousness and is a part of our very mode of being. He suggests that while autonomy is not universal, once tasted it becomes ineradicable. Autonomy runs deeper than is often thought and this book shows that while autonomy is unique to Western consciousness and to democracy, it raises and examines the question as to whether autonomy is either universally necessary or necessary to democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138607682
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction: Whither Autonomy 1

Part I Autonomy Bound 9

1 A Confusion of Concepts 11

2 In the Beginning was Autonomy 39

3 Autonomy, Authority and Saying No! 59

4 For the Soul Has Many Gazes 97

Part II Bounded Autonomy 123

5 From Hermeneutics to Anthropology 125

6 A World Made By Others 155

Part III Autonomy Unbound 177

7 The Informed and Opaque Heart 179

8 Between Here and Eternity 205

9 Of Fractured Minds and Broken Paradigms 265

10 A Tale of Two Cities 297

11 Autonomy, Myth, Poesis and the Summum Bonum 345

Bibliography 375

Index 381

Editorial Reviews

’...Clarke forges a razor sharp critique of modes of thought forbidding or legislating autonomy and puts in their place an ethics of autonomy which I can only call, acknowledging Nietzsche’s project of going beyond nihilism, post-theological and post post-modernist.’ Glenn Bowman, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK

From the Publisher

The divide between modes of thought that permit, and modes of thought that deny, autonomy is often taken to be great. Clarke (University of Essex) looks at what underlies this divide, seeks out some of its causes, analyzes its importance, and suggests that the divide may not be as great as it sometimes appears. He argues that those that affirm and those that deny the significance of autonomy share sufficient components of a tradition of thought, and argues that autonomy can be asserted not as a simple notion but rather as a complex of ideas, not all of which apply to all people at all times. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews