PHILOS 2D03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Diminished Responsibility, Autonomous Agent, Dementia
12 Mar 2018
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Since the respect of the right to autonomy depends on knowledge of best interests, there would be no duty to respect the autonomy of a person lacking such knowledge (dementia or not) But this is contrary to the essential import of respecting the right to autonomy; viz. Autonomy requires us to respect their decisions" (336) the welfare of the agent cannot ground our respect for the right of autonomy. Integrative autonomy: the capacity to intentionally structure our lives in such a way that we can take responsibility for the resulting character we form. For patients suffering from dementia our respect for their autonomy will be calibrated to their capacity for integrative autonomy respect for autonomy diminishes in proportion with diminished capacity. If a person is no longer capable of making decisions consistent with their competently formed character, then recognizing their right to autonomy would be pointless" (337)
