The promotion of individual autonomy in environmental ethics

In his book The Morality of Freedom, Joseph Rat argues that the promotion o f personal autonomy can serve as a constitutive principle for a comprehensi ve political theory. He maintains that three conditions are necessary for a ttainment of individual autonomy: appropriate mental abilities, an adequate range of options, and independence. In this essay, by focusing on Rat's co nception of an adequate range of options, we suggest that Rat's theory just ifies environmental conservation in general. We present an empirical framew ork of present-day assaults on personal autonomy, construct a heuristic sce nario, and argue against both neoclassical economics and utility maximizati on as adequate criteria regarding environmental decisions. We conclude that successful environmental policies should directly or indirectly strive to provide the conditions necessary for promoting individual autonomy.