Abstract
The Flight From Dependence (TFD) examines the relationship between autonomy theories of freedomand the idea of social dependence. Using three case studies, in the form of three different theories of freedom (Ch. 1 John Stuart Mill, Ch. 2 Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ch. 3 Karl Marx) TFD shows that despite acknowledging the profound ways that human beings are socially dependent animals, each of these thinkers flees from the implications of that fact when it comes to thinking about freedom. TFD
argues that this move is characteristic of modern political thought. Although almost everyone wants to acknowledge the fact that we are profoundly dependent beings whose identities are shaped by our social relations, by different means and methods that insight has been kept asunder from our thinking about the nature of freedom. Ultimately, TFD uses a Hegelian framework to show that the modern tendency to think about freedom purely in terms of autonomy is in tension with the reality of humanity’s social dependencies.