Autonomy and equality: exploring the antinomy of modernity (if any)

Abstract

Abstract The notion of modernity is mostly seen as closely connected with the concept of equality, along with freedom or autonomy, at least since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Recently, though, Johann Arnason cast doubts on this connection and even went as far as contemplating that equality might be the antinomy of autonomy. This article first discusses in detail Arnason’s reflections, in particular in the light of the relation between conceptual and historical analysis therein. It is shown that the suggested tension between autonomy and equality arises strongly once one assumes a comprehensive understanding of equality in which all aspects of the concept, which are otherwise often kept distinct, are included. In the second step, a historical sketch is meant to demonstrate that the political imaginary of modernity was based on such a comprehensive framework, but that any attempt at translating such a framework into institutions limited the scope of equality by setting boundaries for inclusion. Our present time is marked by the erosion of many such social boundaries, leading to a thin understanding of equality, while the simultaneous reaching of planetary boundaries turns equality into the receding horizon of modernity.