The Promise Of Human Autonomy

About the Book

SYNOPSIS The thesis of this book is that autonomous behavior in the human being has now been securely anchored as a stage in the development of human person-ality. It has been recognized and described as a valid form of adult human behavior from the evidence supplied by a number of prominent clinicians and experimenters in the area of personality psychology. Furthermore, self-actualizing behavior has been shown to emerge as the more dominant form of expression in people after they have tried to get help with personal problems from the advocates of some of the newer psychotherapies. Autonomy has also been independently established as a necessary expression of life forces on the psychological level by General Systems Theory. Hence Autonomy is an important characteristic of the living organisms in their tendency to achieve a condi-tion of minimal disorganization or "negentropy". We can furthermore understand the lack of awareness in history of this human process for the following reasons: 1. Technological and scientific development did not allow men to develop long enough for it to emerge except for a few; 2. Pre-industrial technology further prevented Man from developing the physical security or the leisure that is needed for its exercise; 3. Religion and other ideologies forced Man to put his faith and trust in an all-powerful and warmly concerned deity rather than in himself; 4. Confusions about the real working of the human mind embroiled the philosophers over the ages to debate on the so-called faculties of Man and their interrelationships which effectively hid autonomous functioning under a number of other categories; 5. Men so organized their society that they preferred dependency on a King or on an aristocracy. It took the development of machines to do Man's work, knowledge of medicine to keep him alive long enough, an acceptance of a democratic ideology and government, and the scientific investigations of mental processes and personality to see autonomy as a legitimate human form of expression. The exercise of human autonomy has also led to some serious problems for Mankind. We can attribute a sense of irresponsibility and lack of consideration, alienation, apathy, and even forms of anarchy to this. These difficulties have pushed whole societies to experimental solutions in which autonomy is subjugated either to irrational leaders or to a pseudo-scientific dictatorship called communism. If we recognize that autonomy is a stage in adult life, after the person has learned and accepted conformity and a sense of responsibility, we can distinguish between true exercise of autonomy and pseudo autonomy. Recent psychological observations about the development of morality also equate the development of the highest stage, namely considera-tion of the common good, with the exercise of autonomy. It therefore becomes possible for Man to take another look at the possible application of autonomous functioning to the solution of problems in our society, rather than magnify the latter with the slogan: "Let each person do his or her own thing." We can begin here by carefully separating the use of rational thinking available in the autonomy stage from the irrational behavior found in all of us, including moments in the lives of self-actualizing people. Armed with this dichotomy we could then heavily lean on the rational thinking processes for solving problems. For instance, we could increase the utilization of mediation practices on all levels of society to settle the inevitable disputes that arise when the self-expressions of people clash with those of others. We could also organize and legitimate various institutions and practices which would allow people to freely express their irrational impulses. In this way these expressions would be isolated from the mainstream and would not hurt others except the participants who are willing to take the risk. We are, therefore, at the choice point in history where we can accept autonomou

About the Author

Walter Gruen (1920-1980) was, in his last professional positions, Research Psychologist, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 196-1980) and Clinical Assistant/Associate Professor of Psychiatry 1974/77-1('80), Brown University Medical School. His academic degrees included: M.B., University of London, 1938; B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1942; M.A., Ph. D., University of California, Berkeley, 1949, 1950. He was a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Divisions 8 (Social and Personality Psychology), 9 (S.P.S.S.I.) and 29 (Psychotherapy). He was also a Fellow of the American Croup Psycho¬therapy Association. Dr. Gruen was a former President of the Rhode Island Psychological Association (1972-1974) and of the Rhode Island Citizens for Better Mental Health, Inc. (1975-1977). Throughout his professional career as a clinical psychologist and teacher, Dr. Gruen held a number of research and teaching appointments in such institutions as: University of Illinois; University of Chicago; University of Buffalo; Harvard University and Tufts University. His publications and presentations included 9 chapters in a variety of books, 41 articles in scientific and professional journals, and 24 papers and other presentations at scientific conferences in the areas of personality psychology, group dynamics and group therapy.