Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Autonomy of the will is the property of the will by which it is a law to itself.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy · Enlightenment · 1785
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes autonomy as the will's giving itself the moral law, so that obligation is neither an outside command nor a mere inclination. A free will and a will under moral law are, on his argument, the same idea. A rival reading hears autonomy as authenticity, being true to one's own desires, which is closer to what he calls heteronomy when those desires set the law. The sentence is in the Groundwork's second section, where he names the principle that gathers the formulas.
Did Immanuel Kant really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Mary Gregor's translation of the Groundwork, Academy edition 4:440. Autonomy is self-legislation under the moral law, not a freedom to choose any preference. Heteronomy is the contrasting term. This wording is a translation.
Where it comes from
Groundwork, Ak. 4:440
Approximate date: 1785.
How to use it
Choosing a career in a kitchen in Cardiff because a parent has threatened the rent is heteronomy in his sense, a law coming from outside the will's own principle. Choosing it because one has examined the maxim and can will it as a law is the autonomy he means, even if the choice looks ordinary from the street. Being true to a strong wish, without that examination, is not yet the property the sentence defines; The rent still matters; It is not the moral law.
A mindset reading
Modern talk of autonomy as getting to do what one wants borrows his word and returns a different concept. He thinks a will that takes its rule from happiness, fear, or fashion is not self-legislating. It is pushed; The rival reading is now the common one, which is why the definition has to be quoted with the contrast in view; Self-legislation can bind; That is the part the slogan of being oneself leaves out.
Understand the philosophy
The key term is autonomy, the will as a law to itself, set against heteronomy, a will determined by an object or inclination outside the form of law. Academy page 440 connects this property to the categorical imperative. Gregor's English is the translation used here. Kant thinks this is the ground of the dignity of rational nature; The definition is moral, not a claim in psychology that people feel independent.
- freedom
- ethics
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes autonomy as the will's giving itself the moral law, so that obligation is neither an outside command nor a mere inclination. A free will and a will under moral law are, on his argument, the same idea. A rival reading hears autonomy as authenticity, being true to one's own desires, which is closer to what he calls heteronomy when those desires set the law. The sentence is in the Groundwork's second section, where he names the principle that gathers the formulas.
Did Immanuel Kant really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Mary Gregor's translation of the Groundwork, Academy edition 4:440. Autonomy is self-legislation under the moral law, not a freedom to choose any preference. Heteronomy is the contrasting term. This wording is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Groundwork, Ak. 4:440 Approximate date: 1785.