Something to cry about : an argument against corporal punishment of children in Canada / Susan M. Turner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Turner, Susan, 1955-

Series:

Studies in childhood and family in Canada

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Corporal punishment--Canada.

Corporal punishment.

Child abuse--Canada.

Child abuse.

Discipline of children.

Canada.

Physical Description:

xix, 317 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Waterloo, ON : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, [2002]

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Terms of the Corporal Punishment Debate 9

The Law 11

Defining Corporal Punishment 14

Law and Morality 17

Chapter 2 A Very Short History of Moral Philosophy 25

What Is Morality? 26

Aristotle and the Morality of Ancient Greece 26

St. Thomas Aquinas and the Morality of Medieval Christianity 28

Immanuel Kant and the Morality of Duty 30

Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and the Morality of Utility 34

Morality in the Postmodern Era 36

Chapter 3 Morality and Culture: When Values Collide 41

Escaping Oppression and Seeking Opportunity 43

Gift Shop v. Fish Tank Liberalism: Bodily Harm and the Limits of Tolerance 44

Moral Dogmatism 48

Moral Pluralism and Moral Relativism 49

Good Fences Make Good Neighbours: Diversity and Separation 51

Passing Moral Culture on to the Young 52

The Argument from Moral Education 54

Rejecting the Argument from Moral Education 56

The Argument from Individual Welfare 60

Rejecting the Argument from Individual Welfare 61

Chapter 4 Philosophical Morality: Happiness and Harm 65

Customary Morality, Philosophical Morality and Metamorality 68

Corporal Punishment and Securing the Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number 69

The Utilitarian Argument from Efficiency 75

The Utilitarian Argument from Genetics 76

The Utilitarian Argument from the Greatest Good 78

The Utilitarian Argument from Forgiveness 79

The Question of Harm 81

The Argument from Social Order: "Personal Security" and "Last Resort" 86

The Argument from Divine Command 89

The Argument from Strict Self-Interest 89

Chapter 5 Human Adults and Human Children 93

Difference as Opposition 95

Savagery, Civility and the Recapitulation Theory of Childhood 99

Guilt, Innocence and the Separation Thesis 100

Stereotyping Children: The Worlds of Innocence and Experience 101

The Way We Were: Age Improves the Past 104

Resistance to Change 107

Chapter 6 The Paradox of Child Protection 111

The State as Parent 113

The Nuclear Family 114

Trust No One 115

David Archard's Modest Collectivism 116

The Paradox of Child Protection 118

Trusting Government 122

Parenting in a Vacuum 123

Chapter 7 Corporal Punishment: Its Defenders 127

Dr. Dobson's New Dare 128

The Definition 128

The Normative Argument 131

Dobson Defends His Position 133

Barbara Amiel's Neoconservative Protest 137

Barbara Amiel's Louder Neoconservative Protest 140

David Benatar and Robert Larzelere: The Philosopher and the Social Scientist 145

Chapter 8 Corporal Punishment and Special Defences in the Law 155

The Legal Substance of Section 43 158

Rights and Privileges 158

Legal Defences in Context 162

Section 43: Criticism 167

Chapter 9 The Legal Challenge for Section 43 175

A Constitutional Challenge 177

Chapter 10 What About Spanking? 187

Section 43 and "Corporal Punishment" 189

Canadian Case Law on Successful Use of Section 43 190

Spanking: Where It All Starts 193

The Morality of Spanking 194

The Legality of Spanking 200

The Social and Political Options 205

The Italians 208

The Swedes 208

Teachers: A Special Case 211

Chapter 11 Child Abuse and Family Statism Revisited 215

The Connection between Corporal Punishment and Child Abuse 216

The Problem of Escalation 222

A Revised Family Statism Argument 228.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-298) and index.

ISBN:

0889203822 :

OCLC:

48118026