An examination of the complex meanings associated with the concept of autonomy and an attempt to establish the way and conditions in which the concept can reasonably be said to apply to individuals. The text argues that autonomy is not as readily achievable as is thought.

This text provides an examination of the complex meanings associated with the concept of autonomy and an attempt to establish the way and conditions in which the concept can reasonably be said to apply to individuals. Autonomy it is suggested is not as readily achievable in western societies as some post-modern writings claim.

Part 1 Autonomy bound: a confusion of concepts
in the beginning was autonomy
autonomy, authority and saying no!
for the soul has many gazes. Part 2 Bounded autonomy: from hermeneutics to anthropology
a world made by others. Part 3 Autonomy unbound: the informed and opaque heart
between here and eternity
of fractured minds and broken paradigms
a tale of two cities
autonomy, myth, poesis and the "summum bonum".