Ascriptional and 'genuine' autonomy

: Knowing that human judgment can be fallible, we propose to distinguish the subjective ascription of a property, such as autonomy, from the genuine fact that an entity is characterised by a certain property, i.e., it is autonomous. In this paper, we take a closer look at this distinction and what it is grounded on, taking a constructivist stance that sees the scientist as an observing subject. We arrive at a notion of fortified ascription, in which knowledge and scientific study of generative mechanisms play an important role, and look at some models of autonomy in the light of this distinction.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: BIOSYSTEMS
• Authors: Marieke Rohde, John Stewart
• Keywords: BIOSYSTEMS 2008, Genuine Fact, Human Judgment, Subjective Ascription