A Genealogy of Autonomy: Part 1 Jean Jacque Rousseau
The concept of autonomy has been around since the Middle Ages, but it only really became clearly defined during the Enlightenment, specifically in the work of the Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jacque Rousseau in The Social Contract and Emile, or On Education. Rousseau observed that in religious thought, autonomy was often presented in a negative light, particularly that free will, or the right to do as one pleases, was an explanation of human fallibility or human sin. Rousseau instead conceived autonomy as a higher or nobler activity. His articulation of autonomy went beyond freedom to include self-determination, independence and self-responsibility.
Importantly, Rousseau's conception was that autonomy is a function of social structures, or as Neuhouser puts it:
”... something individuals can achieve, but only by surrendering part of their status as individuals and associating themselves with others as members of a larger social organisation.”
So, according to Rousseau, when we participate in a society, our autonomy is necessarily limited by laws, norms and conventions. This is the necessary part of our freedom that has to be traded off with the guarantee that individuals can pursue their own ends unimpeded by others. In this sense, even though individuals are bound by structure, autonomy within the law enables them to see themselves as free.