Accountability and Autonomy, Motivation, and Psychiatric Treatment

Authors

John R. Peteet, Harvard Medical School
Charlotte Witvliet, Hope CollegeFollow
C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-23-2022

Publication Title

Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology

Abstract

Christina Miller invites further clarification about the relationship between accountability and autonomy. Whereas embracing accountability to others for one’s responsibilities in those relationships emphasizes relationality, autonomy accents the individual’s own capacities to exhibit agency in enacting one’s decisions (which may or may not relate to other people). Accordingly, we theorize that relational capacities for empathic concern and perspective-taking are especially important in the virtue of accountability (and other relational virtues such as gratitude and forgivingness). The capacity for self-regulation may serve both one’s autonomous pursuits and accountability for carrying out one’s responsibilities within relationships, especially when enacting modifications in order to correct or improve one’s responses. We further note that self-regulation has been considered to undergird virtues more broadly (Root Luna, Van Tongeren, & Witvliet, 2017). In our view, autonomy and accountability play important roles in relation to each other. A healthy sense of one’s own autonomy can protect against the development of vices such as servility or scrupulosity, which are distinct from the virtue of accountability. Attention to the virtue of embracing accountability can also help protect against prioritizing individual freedom to choose over the meaning and impact of such choices within a relational and moral context.

Comments

Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press

Recommended Citation

Peteet, J.R., Witvliet, C.V.O., & Evans, C.S. (2022). Accountability and Autonomy. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 29(1), 69-71. doi:10.1353/ppp.2022.0011.