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The nature and sources of autonomy have long seemed to this author to be one of the great questions in personality psychology, one that has engaged and re-engaged thinkers and writers for a long time. The original inspiration for my making some contribution to the subject came from the demonstrably clear image presented by Thomas More. He is not a fictional Superman (e.g., Goethe's Faust or Nietzsche's Übermensch), but a historical person who, even against great odds and ultimately at great cost, was outstandingly capable of acting on his own values and his own understanding of what is appropriate, correct, and true in life. Suffice it to say that he has seemed to be an especially vivid exemplar of autonomy developed to a high degree.
Obviously, a man such as More, who attains high position, is different from ordinary people in important ways. But close inspection of his work as well as biographies of More suggest that specific intellectual and psychical processes which make for a high order of autonomy in More's personality may be accessible to almost everyone to a significant degree.
More's autonomy appears to be anchored in a capacity to adhere to a configuration of internalized images and ideas of the self, even in the face of extraordinary pressures. To maintain his autonomy, he risked confrontation with a king who potentially held More's life in his hands and who perceived More as threatening to his self-interests. More's “respected peers” then colluded with Henry VIII and chided More as being stubborn and ridiculous for