Classical liberalism on autonomy and diversity: what it means for individual action and society’s institutions

Abstract This paper advances three suggestions from the ‘classics’. First, freedom as autonomy is distinct from the popular idea that freedom consists of the absence of restraint. This is because autonomous action is different to acting instrumentally on desires or preferences. It is action where the person uses reason to reflect on what ends to pursue and the person thereby becomes more fully the author of their actions. Second, acting autonomously is a coherent understanding of what individual