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Moral status and human life : the case for children's superiority / James G. Dwyer.

By: Dwyer, James G, 1961-Publication details: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, c2011. Description: viii, 212 p. ; 24 cmISBN: 9780521766913Subject(s): Children | Social status -- Moral and ethical aspectsDDC classification: 305.23 LOC classification: HQ767.9. | D99 2011Online resources: Cover image | Table of contents only | Publisher description | Contributor biographical information
Contents:
1. What is moral status and why does it matter?; 2. How is moral status determined?; 3. Selecting criteria of moral status; 4. Problems in applying a multi-criterial approach; 5. Applying a multi-criteria moral status test to adults and children; 6. Legal, policy, and moral implications of children's superiority.
Summary: "Are children of equal, lesser, or perhaps even greater moral importance than adults? This work of applied moral philosophy develops a comprehensive account of how adults as moral agents ascribe moral status to beings - ourselves and others - and on the basis of that account identifies multiple criteria for having moral status. It argues that proper application of those criteria should lead us to treat children as of greater moral importance than adults. This conclusion presents a basis for critiquing existing social practices, many of which implicitly presuppose that children occupy an inferior status, and for suggesting how government policy, law, and social life might be different if it reflected an assumption that children are actually of superior status"--
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Item type Current library Class number Status Notes Date due Barcode Item reservations
Book-Circulating Book-Circulating Fischer Hall Library
Main shelves 		HQ767.9. D99 2011 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available Purchased with the support of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. B007730
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Formerly CIP. Uk

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-208) and index.

1. What is moral status and why does it matter?; 2. How is moral status determined?; 3. Selecting criteria of moral status; 4. Problems in applying a multi-criterial approach; 5. Applying a multi-criteria moral status test to adults and children; 6. Legal, policy, and moral implications of children's superiority.

"Are children of equal, lesser, or perhaps even greater moral importance than adults? This work of applied moral philosophy develops a comprehensive account of how adults as moral agents ascribe moral status to beings - ourselves and others - and on the basis of that account identifies multiple criteria for having moral status. It argues that proper application of those criteria should lead us to treat children as of greater moral importance than adults. This conclusion presents a basis for critiquing existing social practices, many of which implicitly presuppose that children occupy an inferior status, and for suggesting how government policy, law, and social life might be different if it reflected an assumption that children are actually of superior status"--