Abstract

This dissertation is divided into two major sections, each containing several chapters. The first section is a development of the concept of autonomy in the context of the important role which autonomy plays in the ways in which we structure society. In particular, I am concerned with the role autonomy serves as a basis of moral responsibility, thus underpinning social structures such as the law. ;The second section centers around a model of "rational authority", has which been most fully developed by Joseph Raz. I offer several corrections to Raz's model of authority. These corrections I take to be important, as they allow for the possibility of a rational obligation to obey the law , and allow for this obligation in such a way that the authority of law is consistent with individual autonomy. Thus, the ways in which law enhances autonomy need not be posited paradoxically against the ways in which many writers view law as threatening autonomy