AUTONOMY

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision. In moral and political philosophy, autonomy is often used as the basis for determining moral responsibility and accountability for one's actions. One of the best known philosophical theories of autonomy was developed by Kant. In medicine, respect for the autonomy of patients is an important goal, though it can conflict with a competing ethical principle, namely beneficence. Autonomy is also used to refer to the self-government of the people.

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autonomy

Noun

  1. Self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
  2. The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
  3. The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.
  4. The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare .


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: autonomy
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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