The concept of autonomy has received considerable attention in both –philosophy and psychology. From the perspective of philosophy, autonomy refers to self-governance of one’s actions. In psychological theory, the focus has been more on human beings striving to experience autonomy and self-determination. In this entry, we will examine the elusive concept of autonomy from different theoretical angels and focus in particular on how autonomy emerges through social interactions and how it develops over the course of the lifespan. We will pay special attention to the role autonomy plays in creativity and the exploration of the possible.
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The concept of autonomy has received considerable attention in both –philosophy and psychology. From the perspective of philosophy, autonomy refers to self-governance of one’s actions. In psychological theory, the focus has been more on human beings striving to experience autonomy and self-determination. In this entry, we will examine the elusive concept of autonomy from different theoretical angels and focus in particular on how autonomy emerges through social interactions and how it develops over the course of the lifespan. We will pay special attention to the role autonomy plays in creativity and the exploration of the possible.
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Western societies are quickly becoming less coherent (Giddens, 1991). As a result it is increasingly unclear how individuals should act in a range of situations or how they may understand themselves. To a certain extent this development towards more diverse perspectives and a broader range of ways to act is a positive one, as cultures can only develop as they are confronted with different perspectives. A uniform culture would simply reach a standstill. That said, current society now demands of its citizens that they become increasingly self-reliant and by extension develop a capacity to be self-governing. On the labour market self-reliance and self-determination have been considered par for the course even longer. It is no surprise then that terms like self-direction, self-governing teams, employability and resilience are considered part of the standard repertoire of politicians and employers (Van der Heijden & De Vos, 2017). Within the social sciences, an ability to be self-governing and self-reliant are terms that are associated with the concept “agency”. However, the latter is a fairly vague, multidimensional concept (Arthur, 2014) that refers to the ‘scope of action’ an individual has in a fluid society (Bauman, 2000). In this article we would like to explore the concept of ‘agency’ further whereby we focus on the role of imagination in enacting it. https://doi.org/10.1177/1038416218777832 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reinekke-lengelle-phd-767a4322/
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