Navigating the Penumbra
Children and Moral Responsibility
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21395045 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael D Burroughs (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 77-101 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Southern Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-4283 • E-ISSN: 2041-6962 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/sjp.12352 |
| OpenAlex | W3009748757 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 47 |
Child moral agency is dismissed in many historical and contemporary accounts based on children's supposed lack or marginal possession of agency‐bearing capacities, including reason, deliberation, and judgment, amongst others. Given its prominence in the philosophical canon, I call this the traditional view of child agency. Recent advancements in moral developmental psychology challenge the traditional view, pointing toward the possession of relevant capacities and competencies for moral and responsible agency in early and middle childhood. I argue that both views—traditional and developmental—underdetermine our practices of holding children responsible in our common interactions. For one, we face significant epistemic barriers in accurately assessing children’s agential status qua possession of responsibility‐bearing capacities and competencies. Second, overreliance on assessments of individualistic capacities emphasizes an atomistic view of agency at the expense of relational views that are of particular relevance for children as uniquely developing persons. Our practices of holding children responsible and the values that guide these practices in the context of supportive relationships are central to both supporting current and drawing out future responsible agency in childhood and, importantly, provide us with a path to regard children as participants in our moral communities, as opposed to mere agents‐in‐waiting
Agency (philosophy) · Context (archaeology) · Deliberation · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Moral agency · Political science · Politics · Possession (linguistics) · Relevance (law) · Social science · Sociology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Ethics in medical practice · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The struggle for recognition
The sociology of childhood
Empathy and Moral Development
Education in the Moral Domain
Building Better Beings
Preschool Children's Conceptions of Moral and Social Rules
The Social Domain Approach to Children's Moral and Social Judgments
Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?
Centuries of childhood
Autonomy, Vulnerability, Recognition, and Justice
A Theory of Justice
Primary goods, capabilities, and children
The Child in the Moral Order
Moral Status and Human Life
A Mind of One's Own
The ‘Intrinsic Goods of Childhood’ and the Just Society
The development of social knowledge
An Age Penalty in Racial Preferences
The Agency of Children
Creating the Kingdom of Ends
Mobilization Through Interpellation
Can Children Do Philosophy
The Epistemic Challenge of Hearing Child’s Voice
Philosophy and the Young Child
Change in self-perceived competence as a function of peer and teacher evaluation
Freedom and Resentment, and Other Essays
Discovering Reality
Disability, Self Image, and Modern Political Theory
The essence of innocence
Public Perceptions of Childhood Criminality
Emotional Factors in Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |