Autonomy is a term of Greek origin whose meaning is related to independence, freedom or self-sufficiency.
O antonym of autonomy is heteronomy, a word that indicates dependence, submission or subordination.
In political science, the autonomy of a government or a region presupposes the elaboration of its own laws and rules without interference from a central government in decision-making.
In Philosophy, autonomy is a concept that determines the individual's freedom to freely manage their life, rationally making their own choices. In this case, autonomy indicates a reality that is governed by its own law, which despite being different from the others, is not incompatible with them.
In education, the student's autonomy reveals the ability to organize their studies on their own, without total dependence on the teacher, effectively managing your time of dedication to learning and efficiently choosing information sources available. When talking about e-Learning Teaching or EAD (Distance Learning) it is intended that the student applies the concept of autonomy in education.
The term autonomy also applies to operating time of an appliance without resorting to the external power source. In electronic devices that run on batteries, autonomy means the duration in hours that the device will work without recharging. For example, the battery of a cell phone or a laptop computer can have greater or lesser autonomy, depending on the type of use given to the device.
The autonomy of a vehicle is the distance in kilometers that it can travel with a full fuel tank until it needs to refuel.
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- heteronomy
- Freedom
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