Autonomy Does not Mean Autarchy. A Plea for the Clarification of Terms

Abstract

Efforts for a technological transformation of humans are often justified referring to human autonomy. The analysis I have presented identifies autonomy also as a criticism and pivotal point of a trinitarian-based anthropology of technology. The latter interprets this understanding of freedom as a misguided because it is not relational. However, with reference to a theological anthropology inspired by the philosophy of freedom, it is shown that both discourses are based on a misunderstanding: the confusion of autonomy with self-sufficiency.