Category:Autonomy

Au*ton"o*my, n. Etym: [Gr. autonomie. See Autonomous.]

1. The power or right of self-government; self-government, or political independence, of a city or a state.

2. (Metaph.)

Defn: The sovereignty of reason in the sphere of morals; or man's power, as possessed of reason, to give law to himself. In this, according to Kant, consist the true nature and only possible proof of liberty. Fleming.