Autonomy
Etymology
From Greek “autonomia,” from “autos,” “self,” + “nomos,” “law” — literally “self-law,” giving oneself one’s own law. Originally applied to Greek city-states that made their own laws rather than obeying an imperial power, it later migrated to the individual, naming the person who legislates for herself.
noun · /aw-TON-uh-mee/
The capacity to govern oneself according to one’s own reasons and choices.
What it names
Reach for it to name self-rule at the level of a person or a group — being the author of one’s own decisions rather than following another’s dictates.
Example
Good managers grant enough autonomy that people can decide how to do their own jobs.
Related idea
Autonomy is governing yourself by your own law; independence is merely not being controlled by others. You can be independent yet not autonomous — free of a ruler but driven by compulsion or unexamined habit rather than by reasons you endorse.