Resumen de The origins of autonomy

Lucas Swaine

• It is commonly believed that the idea of autonomy was originally restricted to the discourse of inter-state relations, even that autonomy 'belongs' to that vocabulary in a historical sense. This article brings both of those notions into question. Early understandings of autonomia were applied to a wide variety of entities, including those of a nonpolitical nature. Individual-level discussion of autonomy emerged in English prior to the work of Immanuel Kant, furthermore, foreshadowing contemporary theories of personal autonomy and casting new light on the development and proliferation of ideas of autonomy in democracy.