Childhood looms large in our understanding of human life, as a phase through which all adults have passed. Childhood is foundational to the development of selfhood, the formation of interests, values and skills and to the lifespan as a whole. Understanding what it is like to be a child, and what differences childhood makes, are thus essential for any broader understanding of the human condition. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Childhood and Children is an outstanding reference source for the key topics, problems and debates in this crucial and exciting field and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into five parts:

* Being a child

* Childhood and moral status

* Parents and children

* Children in society

* Children and the state.

Questions covered include: What is a child? Is childhood a uniquely valuable state, and if so why? Can we generalize about the goods of childhood? What rights do children have, and are they different from adults' rights? What (if anything) gives people a right to parent? What role, if any, ought biology to play in determining who has the right to parent a particular child? What kind of rights can parents legitimately exercise over their children? What roles do relationships with siblings and friends play in the shaping of childhoods? How should we think about sexuality and disability in childhood, and about racialised children? How should society manage the education of children? How are children's lives affected by being taken into social care?

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Childhood and Children is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of childhood, political philosophy and ethics as well as those in related disciplines such as education, psychology, sociology, social policy, law, social work, youth work, neuroscience and anthropology.

About the Author

Anca Gheaus is a Ramon y Cajal researcher at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain.

Gideon Calder is Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Social Policy at Swansea University, UK.

Jurgen De Wispelaere is Political Economy Research Fellow with the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and a Policy Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, UK.

Reviews

"An excellent and timely collection. Individually the thirty-six chapters are authoritative and state of the art. Together they provide a comprehensive overview of the huge amount of recent philosophical work on children."

Adam Swift, University of Warwick, UK.

"This volume provides an extraordinarily helpful starting point for philosophically informed conversations about children and childhood. The five sections are easily navigable, and the thirty-six original essays cover a remarkably broad domain of questions. Anyone teaching or writing on children will find this book to be an essential resource."

Tamar Schapiro, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9780367733889
Author Anca Gheaus
Format Paperback
Page Count 440
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 810g