The article analyzes philosophical implications of the idea of autonomy in the context of late capitalism. The author shows that the widespread understanding of autonomy is often derived from the narrower concept of "social autonomy. The article shows that from the point of view of the methodology of modern social research the concept of "autonomy" should be understood in a philosophical way. This entails attention to the historical and cultural philosophical context of the phenomenon, as well as to the transformations of actual capitalism. Based on the methodology of cultural-historical epistemology the author shows the potential of a philosophical understanding of subject’s autonomy in the context of its determination by late and digital capitalisms. To illustrate his ideas, the author turns to the thought of the Italian philosophers Franco Berardi and Giorgio Agamben, showing that their critique of modernity relies on a theoretical and practical expansion of the meaning of autonomy precisely from the perspective of historical philosophy.