In my forthcoming book, The Flight From Dependence, I argue that modern political thinkers have systematically elevated freedom to the central characteristic of the good life, giving it prime of place that it was not afforded in the ancient world. However, as a result of this change, modern thinkers find themselves ill equipped to grapple with the reality of humanity’s interconnectedness and social dependencies. 

Via original readings of John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and GWF Hegel, I show that when one commits themselves to the idea of autonomy, and treats it as central to a good human life, they subsequently struggle to make sense of the central role dependence plays in the human condition. They flee from its consequences, leading political thinkers to develop standards for freedom that are not only beyond the reach of the ordinary human being, but conceptually impossible for any human to achieve. Any conception of freedom that emphasizes human independence beyond a certain degree is fundamentally ill-suited to the nature of human beings. Ultimately, The Flight From Dependence argues that as long as we remain enamored with the idea of autonomy we will be unable to fully appreciate the ways that social dependencies structure the human condition, and consequently incapable of developing a realistic conception of freedom.