Josh Corngold

Autonomy-facilitation or autonomy-promotion? The case of sex education

This article offers a critique of Harry Brighouse’s ‘autonomy-facilitating education’, which aims to enable students to reflect critically on their lives and society without disposing them to do so. Because it is ‘character-neutral’, this kind of education purportedly avoids some of the controversy surrounding autonomy-promotion. At the same time, it allegedly equips students to withstand common pressures and influences which jeopardize their prospective autonomy. Yet, as I argue here, autonomy-facilitating education cannot live up to the promises Brighouse makes for it. As the case of sex education exemplifies, students need more than a toolbox of rational skills to overcome persistent threats to their autonomy. They need access to an autonomy-promoting education that attends to their cognitive and psychosocial development.