L’autonomie personnelle

Far from the philosophical theories that have long pre-empted the notion of autonomy, people's autonomy is seen in healthcare as a means of improving their well-being.

Public policies and healthcare interventions now aim to develop this autonomy. Yet autonomy remains a slippery concept. Worse still, while the divide between the health and medico-social fields is becoming increasingly blurred in favor of the notion of the life-course, a critical analysis of the discourse shows that autonomy takes on different conceptions depending on whether it is used with the chronically ill, the disabled, the elderly, or people living in poverty and exclusion.

This book exposes the different conceptions that are used, reveals the implicit notions that feed them, and compares them to propose an integrative model, identified on the basis of the lines of force to be maintained, not to empower people, but to serve their autonomy or at least not to harm it.

It will be useful to all those who wish to promote and respect people's autonomy, who work or study in the human sciences, or in the health, medico-social and social sectors.