1 Unpacking autonomy " Alors que les Etats restent au coeur du système international, leur capacité d'action se trouve désormais confrontée à la puissance des acteurs économiques, à la puissance des médias ou, pour le pire, à la puissance des réseaux terroristes et criminels; confrontée aussi aux risques de ce début de XXIe siècle: des flux migratoires de moins en moins maîtrisés; un bouleverse...

N-acetylneuraminic acid at the surfaces of rat cerebral cortex and liver mitochondria and derived mitoplasts (inner membrane plus matrix particles) was studied biochemically and electrokinetically. Rat cerebral cortex mitochondria in 0.0145 M NaCl, 4.5% sorbitol, pH 7.2 +/- 0.1, 0.6 mM NaHCO(3), had an electrophoretic mobility of - 2.88 +/- 0.01 micro/sec per v per cm. In the same solution the ...

What we traditionally call ‘conscious thought’ actually is a subpersonal process, and only rarely a form of mental action. The paradigmatic, standard form of conscious thought is non-agentive, because it lacks veto-control and involves an unnoticed loss of epistemic agency and goal-directed causal self-determination at the level of mental content. Conceptually, it must be described as an uninte...

Autonomy of agents is a critical issue in the field of intelligent agents. It is indeed becoming central and relevant in the design and development of agents and multi-agents systems. In this paper we intend to articulate some fundamental concepts and concerns of the autonomy of agents. Some critical attributes in autonomy are reviewed from the perspective of a number of researches projecting c...

Conceptions of indiûidual autonomy and of rational autonomy have played large parts in twentieth century moral philosophy, yet it is hard to see how either could be basic to morality. Kant’s conception of autonomy is radically different. He predicated autonomy neither of individual selves nor of processes of choosing, but of principles of action. Principles of action are Kantianly autonomous on...

We present a model of absolute autonomy and power in agent systems. This absolute sense of autonomy captures the agent’s liberty over an agent’s preferences. Our model characterizes an affinity between autonomy and power. We argue that agents with similar individual autonomy and power experience an adjusted level of autonomy and power due to being in a group of like agents. We then illustrate o...

Autonomy has significance for everyone, including those in long-term residential care. This article looks at the concept of autonomy particularly in relation to the population of older persons living in residential care settings. It examines the values underpinning the exercise of personal autonomy and notes how an individual's autonomy may be enhanced or restricted. The implications for geront...