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Updated: Mar 12, 2026

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses
Published on: January 7, 2019
[What is patient autonomy?]
1Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes-CREN (EA 2661), Centre atlantique de philosophie-CAPHI (EA 2163), Université de Nantes, chemin de la Censive-du-Tertre, 44000 Nantes, France; Consultation d'Ethique Clinique du CHU de Nantes, Hôpital Bellier, 41 rue Curie, 44093 Nantes Cedex, France; Consultation d'éthique clinique de l'Hôpital mutualiste Jules-Verne, 2 route de Paris, 44000 Nantes, France; Maison des sciences de l'homme Ange-Guépin, USR 3491, 5 allée Jacques-Berque, 44000 Nantes, France.
Abstract:
What does patient autonomy mean? If an autonomous choice is defined as an objective and rational choice, is the doctor's prescription not always the best route? Our contemporary democracies are marked by moral and religious pluralism which obliges society to respect a multiplicity of choices of existence. Three levels are important in terms of autonomy: a range of intellectual capacities, freedom with regard to constraints (external and internal), the capacity to be in control of one's existence.
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