 Within this basic framework, several variants are possible, depending on what one takes to be the essential characteristics of a person, or, if one accepts the capacity for autonomy as the essence of personhood, depending on what one takes to be the core aspects of autonomy. Ronald Dworkin's influential work defends the capacity for autonomy as the relevant threshold, with autonomy interpreted as “the ability to act out of genuine preference or character or conviction or a sense of self” (Dworkin 1993, 225). If an individual has lost the capacity for autonomy so understood, this view dictates that her current interests (illusory or not) have no authority over decisions on her behalf, and surrogates ought to cater to her former interests, from before the loss.