Overview
- Explores the problems, causes, extent and depth of the endangerment of children's bodies.
- Focuses on research into childhood endangerment in affluent societies.
- Offers readers a variety of philosophical and political insights into problems, ethical issues and the response of society and the state.
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book addresses the endangerment of children’s bodies in affluent societies. Bodily integrity is an important part of a child’s physical and mental well-being, but it can also be violated through various threats during childhood; not only affecting physical health but also causing mental damage and leading to distortions in the development of the self. The authors give an account of three areas, which present different serious dangers: (1) body and eating, (2) body and sexuality, and (3) body and violence. Through an in-depth examination of the available theoretical and empirical knowledge, as well as a thorough ethical analysis, the central injustices in the mentioned areas are identified and the agents with responsibilities towards children displayed. The authors conclude by providing invaluable insight into the necessity of an ethical basis for policies to safeguard children and their bodies.
Reviews
“The book walks the well-known tightrope which characterises discussions about children’s right to protection … a strength of this book is that it achieves a genuine sense of child centredness with the child’s well-being and well-becoming always at the forefront of the discussion. … I found this book engaging and accessible ... offers a very useful perspective for students and practitioners in a broad range of settings.” (Elsie Whittington, Children & Society, 2018)
“The relevance of the topics, together with honest, accurate, and original ways to address them, make this book appealing reading for those interested in body ethics and politics, philosophy of childhood, social justice, and policy-making.” (Rosana Trivino Caballero, Journal of Applied Philosophy, September, 2017)
“Austrian philosophers Graf and Schweiger provide a justice-based ethical evaluation of three areas they identify as serious threats to children’s ‘body integrity’ in affluent societies: eating, sexuality, and violence. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.” (K. E. Murphy, Choice, Vol. 54 (10), June, 2017) “Our embodiment makes us vulnerable, and this can be especially true of children. This raises ethical questions of very particular, and particularly pressing, kinds. In this distinctive, illuminating and highly valuable book, Graf and Schweiger explore this terrain in contemporary, affluent, unequal societies. From eating to violence, they show how the treatment of children’s bodies matters in terms of ethics and policy, and how a capability approach might be mobilized in response. The result is essential reading for anyone with an interest in ethics and the body, and in the place of children in frameworks of social justice.” (Gideon Calder, Swansea University, Author: How Inequality Runs in Families (Policy Press, 2016), Co-editor: Ethics & Social Welfare, The Routledge Handbook of Childhood and Children (forthcoming 2018)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Gunter Graf is Research Fellow at the International Research Centre for Social and Ethical Questions (IFZ) in Salzburg, Austria, and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research (CEPR) of the University of Salzburg, where he works in the project “Social Justice and Child Poverty”. His work primarily addresses political and social philosophy, with a focus on the capability approach and its relation to poverty and children. His previous publications include A Philosophical Examination of Social Justice and Child Poverty (2015).
Gottfried Schweiger is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Austria, where he is the principal investigator of the project “Social Justice and Child Poverty”, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). He has published works on poverty, unemployment, recognition, social justice, tax justice, and justice in professional sports. His previous publications include Justice, Education and the Politics of Childhood (2016).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Ethics and the Endangerment of Children's Bodies
Authors: Gunter Graf, Gottfried Schweiger
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40213-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-40212-3Published: 15 December 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-82055-2Published: 04 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-40213-0Published: 30 November 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 283
Topics: Ethics, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Children, Youth and Family Policy