Thursday24Apr 2025
"BREAKING BAD: Autonomy, practical agency and wrongdoing"
Smith Institute Talk with Massimo Renzo
Thursday, April 24, 2025
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. PST
Abstract: The paper provides an account of what it takes to be the author of our life. Thisideal is often invoked in discussions of autonomy, but rarely articulated,since philosophers have largely focused on the question of what it is to actautonomously instead. After arguing that the relationship between actingautonomously and being the author of one’s life is more complex than it isgenerally acknowledged, I develop an account of authorship in life that buildson an insight by Joseph Raz. My way into this problem will be somewhat unusual.I proceed by considering and rejecting a qualification that is often attachedto the value of autonomy, namely that there is value in being autonomous only providedthat we exercise our autonomy to pursue valuable goals.
Bio: Massimo Renzo is the Yeoh Professor of Politics, Philosophy & Law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, where he directs the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law. He works in legal, moral and political philosophy. Professor Renzo has written on political authority, just war, human rights, and philosophy of the criminal law. He is currently interested in moral agency, with a focus on the notions of autonomy, responsibility and meaning in life.
You can contact the event organizer, Molly Holloway at mholloway@chapman.edu.
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