A spectrum of relational autonomy, illustrated using the case studies of female suicide bombers
When women become perpetrators of suicide bombing, their agency â their ability to act upon and affect the world â is often denied. There are a number of reasons for this and one this thesis considers is that â as females â they are not expected to be violent. Accordingly, such women are judged to be coerced or incompetent, and so unable to rule themselves sufficiently as agents. Models of autonomy propose various frameworks for assessing whether acts or persons are self-governing, and the relational approach in particular has garnered much support recently. However, some aspects of the relational account remain under-theorised, including how autonomy might be measured. In this thesis, I aim to bring these two elements together by examining whether an extension of the relational model may offer a way in which to estimate the autonomy of the bombers in a more nuanced fashion. I make two claims. First, that the relational conception of the agent and autonomy âfitsâ the bombers. Second, that my spectrum view, which is rooted in the relational approach, maps the bomberâs autonomy approximately but in detail. As such, my spectrum view is a befitting notion of autonomy and allows a graded and comparative
Marway, Herjeet
B Philosophy (General) ; HQ The family. Marriage. Woman ; HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
A spectrum of relational autonomy, illustrated using the case studies of female suicide bombers. When women become perpetrators of suicide bombing, their agency â their ability to act upon and affect the world â is often denied. There are a number of reasons for this and one this thesis considers is that â as females â they are not expected to be violent. Accordingly, such women are judged to be coerced or incompetent, and so unable to rule themselves sufficiently as agents. Models of autonomy propose various frameworks for assessing whether acts or persons are self-governing, and the relational approach in particular has garnered much support recently. However, some aspects of the relational account remain under-theorised, including how autonomy might be measured. In this thesis, I aim to bring these two elements together by examining whether an extension of the relational model may offer a way in which to estimate the autonomy of the bombers in a more nuanced fashion. I make two claims. First, that the relational conception of the agent and autonomy âfitsâ the bombers. Second, that my spectrum view, which is rooted in the relational approach, maps the bomberâs autonomy approximately but in detail. As such, my spectrum view is a befitting notion of autonomy and allows a graded and comparative
spectrum relational autonomy illustrate use case_study female suicide woman become perpetrator suicide agency ability act_upon affect world often deny number reason considers females expect violent accordingly woman judge incompetent unable rule sufficiently agent models autonomy propose_various framework assess_whether act person self governing relational particular much support recently however aspects relational account remain_under theorised include autonomy might measure aim_bring element together examine_whether extension relational model may offer way estimate autonomy nuanced fashion make claim first relational conception agent autonomy fit second spectrum view root relational autonomy approximately detail spectrum view befit notion autonomy allow grade comparative