Andrea Westlund is a contemporary analytic philosopher working primarily in ethics, philosophy of action, and feminist philosophy. She is best known for her account of autonomy as 'answerability'—the disposition to hold oneself answerable to external critical perspectives on one's own practical reasoning. Her work bridges mainstream autonomy theory with feminist concerns about deference, subordination, and epistemic standpoint.
Developed the 'answerability' model of autonomy, arguing that self-governance requires openness to external challenge rather than mere internal coherence
Argued that deference can be compatible with autonomy when the deferring agent remains disposed to justify their choices
Applied standpoint epistemology to practical identity, examining how social position shapes what agents can know and imagine
Contributed feminist critiques of idealized autonomy models that obscure relational and epistemic dependencies