Autonomy - Beate Roessler

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      In everyday life, we generally assume that we can make our own decisions on matters which concern our own lives. We assume that a life followed only according to decisions taken by other people, against our will, cannot be a well-lived life – we assume, in other words, that we are and should be autonomous. However, it is equally true that many aspects of our lives are not chosen freely: this is true of social relations and commitments but also of all those situations we simply seem to stumble into, situations which just seem to happen to us. The possibility of both the success of an autonomous life and its failure are part of our everyday experiences.

      In this brilliant and illuminating book, Beate Roessler examines the tension between failing and succeeding to live an autonomous life and the obstacles we have to face when we try to live our life autonomously, obstacles within ourselves as well as those that stem from social and political conditions. She highlights the ambiguities we encounter, examines the roles of self-awareness and self-deception, explores the role of autonomy for the meaning of life, and maps out the social and political conditions necessary for autonomy. Informed by philosophical perspectives but also drawing on literary texts, such as those of Siri Hustvedt and Jane Austen, and diaries, including those of Franz Kafka and Sylvia Plath, Roessler develops a formidable defense of autonomy against excessive expectations and, above all, against overpowering skepticism.

      For Rebecca

      “Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies”

      Walt Whitman, “Me Imperturbe”

      An Essay on the Life Well Lived

      Beate Roessler

      Translated by James C. Wagner

      polity

      Originally published in German as Autonomie: Ein Versuch über das gelungene Leben © Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2017. All rights reserved by and controlled through Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin.

      This English edition © Polity Press, 2021

      The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften International – Translation Funding for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the collecting society VG WORT and the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association)

      Excerpt from The Sovereignty of Good, Iris Murdoch, Copyright © 1970, Routledge. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group.

      Polity Press

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      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3799-0 – hardback

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3800-3 – paperback

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Roessler, Beate, 1968- author. | Wagner, James C., translator.

      Title: Autonomy : an essay on the life well lived / Beate Roessler ; translated by James C. Wagner.

      Other titles: Autonomie. English

      Description: English edition. | Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity, [2021] | “Originally published in German as Autonomie. Ein Versuch ŭber das gelungene Leben Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2017.” | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A rich philosophical examination of why it matters to live an autonomous life”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2020042602 (print) | LCCN 2020042603 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509537990 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509538003 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509538010 (epub) | ISBN

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