Preface viii

Introduction: Autonomy in Everyday Life 1

1 What is Autonomy? A Conceptual Approach 10

Remarks on the history of the concept 11

Negative freedom, positive freedom, autonomy 14

Conditions of individual autonomy 17

Autonomy and rational plans 24

2 Ambivalences 27

Various forms of ambivalence 28

Ambivalence as a disease of the will 32

Is an ambivalent will a healthy will? 34

The ambivalent self 37

Conflicts of ambivalence as conflicts of identity 39

Autonomy and the acceptance of conflicts 41

3 Autonomy and the Meaning of Life 43

Why do we value autonomy? 45

Sisyphus contented 47

Does the meaning of life consist in the satisfaction of desire? 48

The objective meaning of life 52

Mill's crisis and subjective meaning in life 58

When does the question of meaning arise? 60

4 Autonomy, Self-Knowledge, and Self-Deception 63

Self-knowledge and self-determination 63

Self-deception: how can I be mistaken about myself? 66

How can self-knowledge fail? On fundamental epistemic uncertainties 73

The quantified self 80

5 Autonomy, Self-Thematization, Self-Examination: From Diaries to Blogs 84

Self-examination, self-control, reflection 84

Why diaries? And which diaries? 89

Autonomy in the diary: examples 92

Blogs and the new technologies of self-examination 102

What is the framework of autonomy? 107

6 Autonomous Choice and the Good Life 110

The question of the good life and perfectionism 110

Happiness, autonomy, and meaning 115

The significance of choosing: conditions of an autonomous decision 117

Who actually chooses and in what context? 120

Alienation (and authenticity) 123

Virtue and character 129

7 Private Life 135

Why privacy? 135

Dimensions of privacy 136

Informational privacy, social relationships, and autonomy 139

Autonomous persons in relationships (I) 142

Autonomy and domestic privacy: autonomous persons in relationships (II) 146

Privacy and democratic society 150

8 Social Preconditions of Autonomy 154

What are social conditions? 154

The social constitution of autonomy 156

Autonomy, ideology, and adaptive preferences 162

Social opportunities and justice 169

Between autonomy and oppression: limiting cases 172

9 The Reality of Autonomy 177

Autonomy is not an illusion 177

The significance of social practices 179

Social unfreedom and implicit bias 181

Aspects of moral responsibility 186

Autonomy and the life well lived 189

Notes 193

Bibliography 229

Index 250