CFP: Special Issue of Ethical Perspectives on "Justice and Disadvantages during Childhood: What Has the Capabilities Approach to Offer?"

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Ethical Perspectives

Guest Editors: Gottfried Schweiger, Gunter Graf and Mar Cabezas (all: University of Salzburg)

Justice for children and during childhood and the particular political, social and moral status of children has long been a neglected issue in ethics, social and political philosophy. The application of general, adult-oriented theories of justice to children can be regarded as particularly problematic. Philosophers have only recently begun to explore what it means to consider children as equals, what goods are especially valuable to them, and what are the obligations of justice different agents have towards children.

In addition, while philosophers have extensively written about global poverty and inequality, the issue of disadvantages during childhood, especially child poverty, has been only superficially addressed. This also applies to the capabilities approach as a normative theory. Although the socio-scientific and economic literature on how to conceptualize capabilities and functionings of children and how to measure them in the context of poverty and well-being is steadily growing, the normative aspects of these issues are still under-theorized.Nevertheless, the capabilities approach offers a unique framework to engage with both the topic of justice for children and questions concerning what justice implies and demands with regard to children living and growing-up in disadvantaged circumstances. Furthermore, justice and disadvantage during childhood is a compellingly interdisciplinary topic that invites the combination of ethical and philosophical reasoning together with socio-scientific theories and empirical knowledge.Interdisciplinary research and contributions from other disciplines (e.g. public health, economics or education studies) are welcome as long as they also have a clear connection to the normative questions at hand. Papers can either be situated within the capabilities approach (broadly construed) or critically engage with it. The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together researchers to discuss three areas of concern.

The conceptualization of justice for children and during childhood with a particular focus on disadvantaged children.

Papers can deal with such questions as: are capabilities and/or functionings the right metric of justice for children, and what makes them preferable over other metrics such as basic goods or welfare? What capabilities and/or functionings are particularly valuable for children? And how should they be distributed? How should justice for children be conceptualized with regard to the different life stages during childhood?

The conceptualization of the injustices related to disadvantages during childhood.

Papers can deal with such questions as: can the capabilities approach offer a framework to describe and criticize the injustice of living and growing-up in disadvantaged circumstances? What disadvantages are of particular concern (e.g. ill-health, social exclusion or lack of education)? To what extent are inequalities in capabilities or functionings during childhood justified? What is the relation between disadvantages during childhood and in later life? Are there morally significant differences between child poverty in rich countries and in poor countries?

The respective duties and obligations of different agents of justice towards disadvantaged children and in different contexts.

Papers can engage with such questions as: what do different agents (e.g. the state, corporations, non-poor adults, peers) owe to children in general and in particular to those disadvantaged? Are children themselves agents of justice and to what extent? What is the relation between social and global justice in respect to disadvantages during childhood?

Submission and Schedule

Please prepare your submission according to the guidelines that can be found on the homepage of Ethical Perspectives (www.ethical-perspectives.be). All manuscripts must be submitted in electronic format by e-mail. They are to be prepared for anonymous review and sent as e-mail attachments (.doc, .docx, or .rtf files) to Gottfried Schweiger ([email protected]). The deadline for submissions is April 30th 2015 and the Special Issue will be published in March 2016. Expressions of interest to submit a paper are welcomed in advance.

More information about Ethical Perspectives can be found here: www.ethical-perspectives.be

This Special Issue is edited as part of the research project "Social Justice and Child Poverty": www.uni-salzburg.at/zea/childpoverty