What is the difference between an account and an approach?

Question

For example, this article about Personal Autonomy is talking about "Four More or Less Overlapping Accounts of Personal Autonomy". I understand that "account" here can be substituted with:

approach
explanation
model
theory
consideration
perspective

However, I don't know when to use "account" instead of the others. Plust that the closest meaning of account in this context would be: "a written or spoken description of an event". Still, I find it's still quite far from "approach".

Edwin Ashworth · Accepted Answer

This article is using the following sense of 'account', given by Collins:

account ... 5. [countable noun] [usually NOUN of noun, oft poss NOUN]
An account of something is a theory which is intended to explain or
describe it. [formal]

This basic utilitarian model gives a relatively unsophisticated account of human behaviour.
Science, on Weber's account, is an essentially value-free activity.

Note that four theories are put forward by the author of the article, Sarah Buss; the first is introduced According to one prominent conception,
This is not a common usage, and would be better replaced by 'model' or 'theory'.

JeffSahol · Answer

From the context, it looks like the author used the "a statement explaining one's conduct" meaning from here.

What is the difference between an account and an approach?

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