What kind of autonomy? Understandings of autonomy within the Covid-19 pandemic discourse against the backdrop of the use of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data (additional Corona-related funding)

In pandemic and technology-driven times, 'autonomy' has become a highly contested concept. During the Covid-19 pandemic, autonomy is often referred to as a key value in political discourse. Similarly, respect for autonomy is summoned in discourses around the use of AI and Big Data. Promises to manage pandemic situations using AI-technologies put even more strain on traditional notions of autonomy or even reshape its public interpretations and philosophical conceptions. Knowing what 'autonomy' means in ethical, public and historical discourses could help to secure autonomy as a multi-faceted key value in societies which are confronted with promises of innovation and fears in view of uncertain futures. This project adopts different qualitative social research methods and proposes an 'argument pattern navigator' to solve the 'autonomy-puzzle'.