Truth, Autonomy, and Speech by Susan Williams

Author:Susan Williams [Williams, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Feminism & Feminist Theory, Political Science, Civil Rights
ISBN: 9780814795118
Google: 5b38R-pZH7cC
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 2004-06-14T05:23:33+00:00

4. The Functions of Autonomy

The central question for a narrative model seeking to fulfill the functions of autonomy is, how is some form of self-direction and/or self-ownership possible for a socially constructed self? All of the functions of autonomy described earlier require some notion of self-direction or self-ownership, but a thoroughly socially constructed self seems to leave little space for such a possibility. As Seyla Benhabib, puts it, “along with this dissolution of the subject into yet ‘another position in language’ disappear of course concepts of intentionality, accountability, self-reflexivity, and autonomy.”103 If people are so totally determined by their social context that their “retelling” of their stories consists of nothing more than a parroting back of the cultural elements they were given, it is difficult to see why this version of autonomy would be worth protecting at all. A social constructionist model must include some space for individual creativity in the retelling that allows autonomy to fulfill the functions described above. This section will first address this general issue concerning the possibility for creative retelling and then examine the particular functions of autonomy identified earlier in the chapter.

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