1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910818180203321

Autore

Dwyer James G. <1961->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge ; ; New York, : Cambridge University Press, 2010

ISBN

0-511-85264-9

1-107-21763-6

1-282-91872-9

9786612918728

0-511-93146-8

0-511-93280-4

0-511-92761-4

0-511-92507-7

0-511-77960-7

0-511-93012-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (viii, 212 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

305.23

Soggetti

Children

Social status - Moral and ethical aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

What is moral status and why does it matter? -- How is moral status determined? -- Selecting criteria of moral status -- Problems in applying a multicriterial approach -- Applying a multicriteria moral status test to adults and children -- Legal, policy, and moral implications of children's superiority.

Sommario/riassunto

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.