Most of us value our autonomy. It is important to us that we are in charge of our own lives. An important part of this involves being able to think for ourselves – having the capacity to deliberate fully and freely over the reasons we have for doing what we do. This makes it tempting to think that the best way of respecting someone else’s autonomy is to keep our interfering hands clear of their deliberative processes. In this talk I argue that this isn’t the right way of thinking about caring relationships. When we care about someone, we care about them making good decisions. And that often gives us reason to influence what they think and do: we advise, persuade, reassure, encourage, nudge – and sometimes lie. This kicks off a tangle of philosophically interesting questions to be explored in this talk, and with the audience in the Q&A period: what kinds of influence are compatible with respecting someone’s autonomy? Is there a principled difference between persuasion and lying? What’s the difference between rational support and rational coercion? And is lying really the special threat to autonomy it appears to be, or is it simply one point on a spectrum of ways in which we influence each other’s deliberation?
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About the Speaker:
Léa Salje is Associate Professor in Philosophy of Mind at the University of Leeds. She is the author of two books — Saying What One Thinks (OUP) and Thought: the basics (Routledge) — and a number of articles on the themes of self-knowledge, first person thought, philosophy of art and the emotions.