ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss the relationship between personal autonomy and rights. According to the Interest Theory, rights are correlative with duties that are justified on the right-holders’ interests. On the Choice Theory, the point of rights is to enhance autonomous choice by giving right-holders powers to control the correlative duties. Instead of the Choice Theory, I propose an Autonomy Theory of rights. This theory defines rights on the basis of their justification in autonomy and so naturally leads to explore the connections between autonomy and moral rights.
Like other authors, I distinguish between real-self autonomy and independence autonomy. Since there are two notions of personal autonomy, I argue that rights are connected to autonomy in two different ways. Along the real-self autonomy dimension is the principle of autonomous character formation. Along the independence autonomy dimension are the principles of self-direction and the principle of inviolability.
I discuss the connections between moral rights and those three principles. The principle of autonomous character formation grounds rights against centralized cognitive control and centralized motivational control. Then, I focus on the principles that secure independence autonomy. The principle of self-direction bars coercive and paternalistic interventions in people’s free choices. The principle of inviolability grounds moral side constraints that forbid the interpersonal maximization of utility and rights-compliance.
