The history of humanity, in the second half of the twentieth century, was witness of a fact that become fundamental to understand many of the events, ideologies, beliefs and values that emerge in the contemporary world. The deep disappointment in which society is involved arising after the Second World War forced the men to rethink the world in which living and to create a new relationship of man with himself and with others. This process has been arduous and has not been completed, since the declaration of human rights, civil rights conquest until the recognition of minority groups and vulnerable populations. For this, setting of some ethical principles has become essential, and specifically the principle of autonomy as a basis for ethical and philosophical systems of the contemporary world. © Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales.