Abstract
Abstract Drawing from examples ranging from the suffrage movement to the Scientific Revolution, this chapter explores the nature of intellectual autonomy, the virtue we need in order to think for ourselves. The chapter identifies autonomy as a virtue that stands between the vices of servility (a deficiency of independence) and isolation (an excess). It argues that, surprisingly, virtuous autonomy requires us to rely on others—a fact illustrated by both the suffragists and the scientific revolutionaries. Autonomy is a matter of thinking for ourselves, but not a matter of thinking by ourselves. The chapter includes a discussion of the relationship between autonomy and deference to experts. It closes with exercises designed to prompt the reader toward virtuous, autonomous thinking.
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