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Agency (philosophy)

About: Agency (philosophy) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10461 publications have been published within this topic receiving 350831 citations. The topic is also known as: Thought & Human agency.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This essay critiques the dominant conceptualization of autonomy and urges an alternative formulation freed from the individualistic assumptions that pervade the prevailing framework of bioethics, particularly beneficence, justice, and equality.
Abstract: Principle-based formulations of bioethical theory have recently come under increasing scrutiny, particularly insofar as they give prominence to personal autonomy. This essay critiques the dominant conceptualization of autonomy and urges an alternative formulation freed from the individualistic assumptions that pervade the prevailing framework. Drawing on feminist perspectives, I discuss the need for a vision of patient autonomy that joins relational experiences to individuality and acknowledges the influence of patterns of power and authority on the exercise of patient agency. Deficiencies in the current models of science and social relations guiding medical practice are analyzed, particularly (1) the tendency to disregard the patient's self-knowledge and (2) failure to recognize limitations on the generalizability of medical knowledge. Models of social relations such as mothering and friendship are explored to advance a conception of autonomy better suited to the practical activities of medicine. In conclusion, I consider how acknowledgement of the specificity and complexity of social relations can contribute to reconfiguration of other principles comprising the standard framework of bioethics, particularly beneficence, justice, and equality.

154 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Aug 1989
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take a feminist perspective on career theory and explore the relevance of women's experiences and their meaning in the context of career theory, and their potential contribution to career theory is shaped by these changes.
Abstract: INTRODUCTION In this chapter I take a feminist perspective on career theory. There is no one feminism; rather this umbrella label covers many diverse perspectives held together by several broad uniting themes. Feminists tend to share a belief that women are oppressed in a society dominated by men (patriarchy) and concerns to change this situation and to honor and voice women's experiences and meanings. Beyond this there is considerable variety. Neither is feminism static: It is lived, in the sense that it arises from and informs being and doing and is continually evolving and changing. I cannot therefore speak for other women, although I draw on and value their work and experiences. This chapter is my current personal perspective, one story from a range of possibilities. The chapter is in two main parts: The first offers some core strands in feminist thinking, which are then woven together in the second part, which explores their relevance to career theory. The first part is a brief tour of a vast and complex area. It starts with a selective history of the development of feminism. A historical perspective is necessary in order to understand the social context within which theory about women is developing. There have been major changes since 1960 in women's roles in society and in their attitudes toward employment. Feminism's potential contribution to career theory is shaped by these changes. Within feminism, writers have offered a wide range of approaches to understanding women's experiences and their traditionally subordinate social position; these explanations range from the psychological to the structural, from the biological to the social and so on.

154 citations

BookDOI
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: Taylor as discussed by the authors discusses the relationship between autonomous and morally responsible agency and the concept of personal autonomy in bioethics, and the role of autonomy in the development of bioethic principles.
Abstract: Introduction James Stacey Taylor Part I. Theoretical Approaches to Personal Autonomy: 1. Planning agency, autonomous agency Michael Bratman 2. Autonomy without free will Bernard Berofsky 3. Autonomy and the paradox of self-creation Robert Noggle 4. Agnostic autonomism Alfred Mele 5. Feminist intuitions and the normative substance of autonomy Paul Benson 6. Autonomy and personal integration Laura Waddell Ekstrom 7. Responsibility, applied ethics, and complex autonomy theories Normy Arpaly Part II. Autonomy, Freedom and Moral Responsibility: 8. Autonomy and free agency Marina A. L. Oshana 9. The relationship between autonomous and morally responsible agency Michael McKenna 10. Alternative possibilities and personal autonomy Ishtiyaque Haji 11. Freedom within reason Susan Wolf Part III. The Expanding Role of Personal Autonomy: 12. Procedural autonomy and liberal legitimacy John Christman 13. The concept of autonomy in bioethics: an unwarranted fall from grace Thomas May 14. Who deserves autonomy and whose autonomy deserves respect? Tom L. Beauchamp 15. Autonomy, diminished life, and the threshold for use R. G. Frey.

153 citations

Book
20 Oct 1998
TL;DR: In "Critical Moves" as discussed by the authors, Martin sets in motion an inquiry into the relationship between dance, politics, and cultural theory and demonstrates how a critical reflection on dance helps promote fluency in the language of mobilisation that political theory alludes to yet rarely speaks.
Abstract: In "Critical Moves" Randy Martin sets in motion an inquiry into the relationship between dance, politics, and cultural theory. Drawing on his own experiences as a dancer as well as his observations as a cultural critic and social theorist, Martin illustrates how the study and practice of dance can reanimate arrested prospects for progressive politics and social change. From experimental and concert dance to more popular expressions, Martin engages a range of performances and demonstrates how a critical reflection on dance helps promote fluency in the language of mobilisation that political theory alludes to yet rarely speaks. He explores how Bill T. Jones' "Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land" defies attempts to separate social ideas from aesthetic concerns and celebrates multiculturalism in the face of a singular national culture; he studies the choreography in rapper Ice Cube's video "Wicked", which confronts radicalised depictions of violent crime; and he discusses how racial difference is negotiated by analysing a hip hop aerobics class in a non-black environment. Revealing how mastery of modern dance technique teaches an individual body to express cultural difference and display its intrinsic diversity, "Critical Moves" concludes with a reflection on the contribution dance studies can make to other fields within cultural studies and social sciences. As such it becomes an occasion to rethink the terms of history and agency, multiculturalism and nationalism, identity and political economy. This book will appeal not only to scholars and practitioners of dance, but also to a wide cross-section of people concerned with the study of political theory and the history of social movements.

153 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe and explain the standard accounts of agency, natural agency, artificial agency, and moral agency, as well as articulate what are widely taken to be the criteria for moral agency.
Abstract: In this essay, I describe and explain the standard accounts of agency, natural agency, artificial agency, and moral agency, as well as articulate what are widely taken to be the criteria for moral agency, supporting the contention that this is the standard account with citations from such widely used and respected professional resources as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I then flesh out the implications of some of these well-settled theories with respect to the prerequisites that an ICT must satisfy in order to count as a moral agent accountable for its behavior. I argue that each of the various elements of the necessary conditions for moral agency presupposes consciousness, i.e., the capacity for inner subjective experience like that of pain or, as Nagel puts it, the possession of an internal something-of-which-it is-is-to-be-like. I ultimately conclude that the issue of whether artificial moral agency is possible depends on the issue of whether it is possible for ICTs to be conscious.

152 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20247
20235,872
202212,259
2021566
2020532
2019559