Liberation from Self: A Theory of Personal Autonomy

284 Pages·2007·6.55 MB·English

by  Bernard Berofsky

This is the most detailed, sophisticated, and comprehensive treatment of
autonomy currently available. Moreover it argues for a quite different
conception of autonomy from that found in the philosophical literature.
Professor Berofsky claims that the idea of autonomy as origination in
the self is a seductive but ultimately illusory one. The only serious way of
approaching the subject is to pay due attention to psychology and its
emphasis on liberation from the disabling effects of physiological and
psychological afflictions. A sustained critique of concepts such as moral
autonomy, self-realization, ideal autonomy, and identification is offered.
The author replaces these with an alternative model that focuses on vital,
competent, and unencumbered engagement in the world.

Liberation from self

Liberation from self
A theory of personal autonomy
Bernard Berofsky
Columbia University
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www. Cambridge. org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521480451
© Cambridge University Press 1995
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1995
This digitally printed version 2007
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Berofsky, Bernard.
Liberation from self: a theory of personal autonomy / Bernard
Berofsky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-48045-0 (he)
1. Self (Philosophy) 2. Free will and determinism. I. Title.
BD450.B438 1995
128-dc20 95-11441
CIP
ISBN 978-0-521-48045-1 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-04133-1 paperback
To my mother

Contents
1 Introduction page 1
2 Freedom and autonomy 16
Positive freedom and autonomy 16
Autonomy, romantic self-expression, and flourishing 22
Autonomy, proficiency, competence, and strength of will 26
Dispositional, occurrent, social, and scope of autonomy 31
3 Freedom of action 34
Ability 34
Abilities as tokens 37
Positive and negative freedom 42
Valuational conceptions of freedom 46
The hierarchical theory 51
Knowledge and freedom 53
Duress 55
4 Agent freedom 57
Agent freedom and freedom of action 58
Relativistic conceptions of agent freedom 59
Agent freedom as positive freedom 63
Freedom of decision 67
Freedom and value 69
Critical competence 75
5 Values and the self 77
Values and desires 77
The motivation conception of value 85
The evaluation conception of value 89
vii
Vlll CONTENTS
Evaluation 93
Identification and the self 99
The primacy of our first-order natures 104
Evaluation versus motivation conception of value 104
6 Autonomy and rationality 107
Self-control 107
Rationality and self 108
Rationality and autonomy 111
Ideal autonomy 112
The limits of rationality 116
Ideal, maximal, and realistic autonomy 117
Procedural independence 122
Contingency 129
Principles of rationality 134
Autonomous irrationality 136
Autonomy and omniscience 137
7 Rationality, values, and integrity 140
The rationality of altruism: D. Gauthier and S. Darwall 141
The amoralist 149
Discourse ethics 156
Value-free autonomy and deprivation 161
The formation of values 165
Evaluations, virtues, and altruism 170
Rigid personality 177
Autonomy and morality 178
8 The liberation theory of autonomy: Objectivity 182
Autonomy and objectivity 183
The nature of objectivity 185
A breakdown of objectivity: The phobic response 191
Appropriateness of response 203
Autonomy and mental health 206
9 The liberation theory of autonomy: The place of self 210