Most people believe they have a right to be autonomous, at least in many domains. The value of autonomy may then be construed as the value of conferring or possessing this right – the right to be a certain way and the right not to be interfered with as one cultivates this state – and that depends on the precise nature and scope of this right. The right will not be of much value to a person who finds that he only has a right to exercise autonomy over matters of little moment to him. I do not propose to address the scope of this right for such a discussion would have to rest on a general theory of rights I am not in a position to offer.

Instead, I wish rather to seek to know the value of that state, autonomy, to which one may or may not have a limited or unlimited right. Here, again, the question may be divided. For one may wish to know the value of making a decision autonomously rather than heteronomously, regardless of the specific content of the decision. Or one may want to know the value of incorporating a particular domain into the scope of one's autonomy.