Addicted to Autonomy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his book on Hands, Darian Leader notes the \u201cparadox at the heart of the modern notions of agency and choice.\u201d We strive for autonomy and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/addicted-to-autonomy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Addicted to Autonomy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book on Hands, Darian Leader notes the \u201cparadox at the heart of the modern notions of agency and choice.\u201d We strive for autonomy and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/addicted-to-autonomy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" 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{"id":18250,"date":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=23"},"modified":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","slug":"addicted-to-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/addicted-to-autonomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Addicted to Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I<\/span>n his book on Hands<\/a>, Darian Leader notes the \u201cparadox at the heart of the modern notions of agency and choice.\u201d We strive for autonomy and self-determination, but this \u201cobligation to be free and to make our own choices is framed within a network of imperatives that come from without, ordering us to be free.\u201d This can only produce pathologies: \u201cthe more that autonomy and self-termination are valorized, the more that all basic human activities that fail to come under complete conscious control become pathologized\u201d (10).\n<\/p>\n

That, he claims, is the source of the expansion of the field of \u201cso-called \u2018addictions\u2019\u201d: \u201cThe shopping addictions, sex addictions, Internet addictions and phone addictions that fill the diagnostic marketplace have become seen as addictions because they are apparently not under conscious control. But the real addiction that lies behind them is autonomy addiction: the illusion that we can be fully masters of ourselves. The more we buy into this, the more disorders there will be\u201d (10).\n<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t skip over this. Read it three times.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"