Catriona Mackenzie,for example, advocates an explicitly multidimensional approach to autonomy that recognizes three causally interdependent elements of autonomy: self-determination, self-governance, and self-authorization. These are supposed to help us make sense of the different intuitions about autonomy which arise from “different value orientations andpolitical commitments.”
I liked this passage because it shows that personal autonomy is often out of our control, usually do political, societal, and cultural practices. By breaking it down into three different commitments, I fell like it helps to show which areas a person can have full autonomy and in which areas this is simply not possible.
As Nancy Hirschmann contends, “the West has tended to view Islam as a barbaric source of women's inequality,” (Hirschmann, 1998, 345) which not only picks out certain groupsof women as more deprived of autonomy than other groups under patriarchy, but also neglects the complexity and possibility of agency within various structures of constraint.
I found this passage very interesting, as this is an argument that I have heard before, especially with Gulf countries attempting to globalize and become closer to the west, it shows a stark contrast in culture. It also shows limitations the full possibility of autonomy of certain groups in certain places.
A key distinction between the damage model and Johnston's externalist framing consists of the difference in how we conceptualize and respond to the damage that is done. On a damage model, the problem lies with the individual since they incur damage to their autonomous capacities. On Johnston's view, however, the problem is not so much about the individual damage the agent incurs, but the fact that some people are by defaultascribed a violable or expendable status by a ‘superordinated’ identity.
This quote sums up how I felt about this reading. What resonated with me the most was the fact that before this reading I would have felt that self autonomy was a choice for every individual, that all would have equal opportunity, if living in freedom. This is simply not true, and difference reflects how people view you.