Ghostwritten Lives: Autonomy, Deference, and Self-Authorship

Abstract

Certain forms of practical deference seem to be incompatible with personal autonomy. I argue that such deference undermines autonomy not by compromising the governance of an authentic self, nor by constituting a failure to track objective reasons, but by constituting a particular social relation: one of interpersonal rule. I analyze this social relation and distinguish it from others, including ordinary relations of love and care. Finally, I argue that the particular formof interpersonal rule constituted by dispositions of practical deference in itself entails a partial, though not total, disconnection from the good of a self-authored life.