Regulation, Self-Determination and Freedom

Abstract

<p>This article presents the analysis of the relation and separation among the concepts regulation, self-determination and freedom, and further approaches to the theoretical influences leading to their identification. This issue is limited by approaching the theory of self-determination and the relational theory of the needs. It is intended to elucidate that neither self-regulation can be identified with the concept autonomy nor autonomy is a synonym of self-determination, because autonomy refers to the faculty of the volition to become the source of law, in the Kantian sense, and selfdetermination is the faculty of volition to become control over self and the other capabilities. The concept self-regulation has its origin in biology and is later applied, by extension, to the field of psychology.</p>