Autonomy In Brave New World Essay

Does a person that is conditioned to be happy from birth have a good life despite their lack of freedom? The majority of citizens in The Brave New World lived such a life. They were grown in a laboratory, psychologically manipulated to believe that their assigned career was their passion, and spent their downtime under the influence of the government supplied miracle drug, soma. Can a life without autonomy be considered a good life? Furthermore, what is a good life? There are multiple theories as to what the components of a good life are, but only one can be true because each theory blatantly contradicts the others. The Desire Satisfaction Theory is a subjectivist view that states that a life is good if and only if it fulfills our desires (Shafer-Landau

Autonomy is the idea of having control over one’s actions and being able to think freely and act independently (Kazez 52). The people of The Brave New World did not have a choice in their role in society. They were all manufactured in a laboratory to fulfill a certain societal role and conditioned to enjoy that role. The citizens of The Brave New World were basically slaves to their conditioning and were trained to believe that their lives were important and enjoyable. Soma was also a factor in removing autonomy from the masses. It caused people to ignore the problems in their society and be complacent with the life they were assigned during their creation. Once again, the liftman is an ideal example of a citizen in The Brave New World that lacked autonomy. He lacked the ability to think for himself and realize that his job was not actually important nor was it enjoyable. The only reason he believed his job was important and enjoyable was because he was brainwashed to think it was. The epsilon-liftman, along with all the other citizens, were given soma to maintain a feeling of false happiness, never question the status quo, and to never think