Leiden University Student Repository

Sluijs, Xanthe (2020)

Deciding for Oneself: Considering Wolff’s and Raz's Conceptions of Autonomy

Master thesis | Philosophy (MA) (60 EC)

In In Defense of Anarchism, Robert Paul Wolff claims that a legitimate authority cannot exist, as any authority will necessarily prevent its subject’s autonomy. Jospeh Raz, in contrast, argues that a legitimate authority can exist and should support its subjects’ autonomy. In the argumentation to defend their conclusions, both focus on formulating their conceptions of (legitimate) authority. In this paper, I argue that the difference in their conceptions of autonomy is the basis of the disagreement in Wolff’s and Raz’s conclusions. After a comparison of the two conceptions and the role autonomy plays in the authors’ argumentations, I conclude that Raz’s conclusion is the more plausible of the two.

Autonomy

Authority

Freedom

Personal freedom

Author

Sluijs, Xanthe

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Philosophical Perspectives on Politics and the Economy

Supervisors

Verbeek, Bruno

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en