Professor Jennifer Nedelsky, p272 Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism

A proper conception of autonomy must begin with the recognition that relationship, not separation makes autonomy possible. This recognition shifts the focus from protection against others to structuring relationships so that they foster autonomy. Some of the most basic presuppositions about autonomy shift: dependence is no longer the antithesis of autonomy, but a precondition in the relationships - between parent and child, student and teacher, state and citizen - which provide the security, education, nurturing, and support that makes the development of autonomy possible. Interdependence becomes the central fact of political life, not an issue to be shunted to the basic question of how to ensure individual autonomy in the inevitable face of collective power. The human interactions to be governed are not seen primarily in terms of clashing rights and interests, but in terms of the way patterns of relationship can develop and sustain both an enriching collective life and the scope for genuine individual autonomy. The whole conception of the relation between the individual and the collective shifts: the collective is a source of autonomy as well as a threat to it.

Nedelksy's argument makes such a recognition seem reasonable and get-at-able.

However there are those of us who were weaned on the notions of property power and control. And Dostoevesky in the Brother Karemozov has the Inquisitor say to the returned Jesus that the gift of freedom he brought to mankind was too much so he had rewritten the script to one of myth magic and authority.

So to us she writes of another world. One in which we 'allow' each other their autonomy. Sometimes such an allowing is an enormous event, more like climbing Mt Everest

Yet it is not an impossible dream.

If we are to taste such an experience we need to realise that it is a messy idea. Most of our old style relationships are about dependency with other knowing best and wanting their say. To move out from such a tangle is a complex matter needing us to know our own mind and what we really do feel.

With that knowledge we find we are realising the potential of fundamental human needs. Then we taste the dynamic that such an emotional environment invites others to do the same.

And it's a leap into the unknown and demands nerves of steel; or maybe it's analagous to learning Chinese Robert Winston link or make slide show