Disturbing Visions of Childhood

This article analyses the critique of childhood undertaken by the French philosopher René Schérer in the 1970s. It explores Schérer's scepticism regarding children's ‘emancipation’ in the post-68 period and his attacks on developmental expertise derived from the fields of psychology, psychoanalysis and pedagogy. Existing critical appraisals of this body of work have focused, unsurprisingly, on its apology for paedophilia, which Schérer promoted as a means of liberating children from society's dominant maturational narratives. The article rejects Schérer's defence of paedophilia. It argues, however, that the philosopher's controversial views on intergenerational desire conceal a number of other ethical and epistemological concerns that merit revisiting. These arise from Schérer's reflections on generational distinction, the temporalities of childhood and adulthood and the ethics of representation

Art · Emancipation · Epistemology · Feminization (sociology) · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Representation (politics) · Skepticism · Sociology · Temporalities · Theology · Vision · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Philosophical and Theoretical Analysis · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory · Psychology