Discourses of Educational Rights in Philosophy for Children: On the Theoretical and Practical Merits of Philosophical Education for Children

This article aims to put into dialogue Philosophy for Children (P4C) and education rights. Whereas rights have robust conceptualizations and have been the topic of many scholarly discussions, scholarship on P4C still has a lot to unpack for a more expansive understanding, especially when scaled up to the level of rights. This work asks whether or not the rhetoric of “rights” can be used to discuss if P4C has a rightful place to be a mandatory part of school curriculum. Thus the article explores how P4C is positioned between children education and rights discourses. The range of views on P4C is broad enough to prevent the concentration of discursive power in a single source or authority in terms of scale of discussion. P4C is therefore subject to both scrutiny and praise in the same way that other human rights ideologies have been. In conclusion, this work hopes to speak and contribute to the literature on P4C by problematizing children’s discursive positions as learners and citizens with rights

“Unmapping” the Ural Playscapes: An Analysis of Playgrounds and Child Play under the Post-Soviet Urban Transition of Yekaterinburg, Russia

This study examines playgrounds as lenses on urban transitions to explain the link between urban transformations and changes in the discourse of play and childhood. Specifically, it compares Soviet public playgrounds and post-Soviet privatized playscapes in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia, through primary observation and secondary data analysis. Using the framework of social reproduction developed by Cindy Katz and Saskia Sassen to explain how the local forces affect cities, my analysis shows that the shift in the discourse of play and childhood in the post-Soviet period is hinged on global influences combined with local transformations, from the abandonment of Soviet ideals of communal play spaces to the embracement of today’s consumerist play places. Whereas the old Soviet playgrounds have uncertain purposes, in contemporary Yekaterinburg private playgrounds offer a narrative of play in terms of leisure, love, and convenience for parents. Children turn into consumers of private play, leaving most of the Soviet playgrounds as idle spaces in the city. This article argues that Yekaterinburg’s shift toward participating in the globalized economy combined with its transition from the Soviet ideals maintains social relations and reproduces social inequalities in childhood, as this condition favors consumerist narratives of play. I conclude that the playgrounds in Yekaterinburg are bystanders of new global ecologies whereby social, political, and economic transformations become an impetus to reproduce new ways of seeing the social importance and meaning of play and playgrounds

Politika mjesta porođaja: Ispitivanje etike izbora mjesta porođaja

This work examines the ethical aspects of restricting homebirth. It focuses on how restricting homebirth can breach the principle of autonomy because pregnant citizens1 not only risk losing control over the medical decisions facing them, but also autonomy over their actions and control over their bodies. Using Berlin’s discussion on freedom, this work discusses the rather hidden oppressive nature of birth restrictions that appears when it is framed as helping pregnant individuals choose a moral option as per the advice of medical authorities at the expense of seeing an institutional failure to provide informed choice or options for birthing places for their so-called “best interest”. Three main arguments are offered why restricting homebirth can potentially violate autonomy: (1) imposing the authority to decide on the maternal body issues; (2) imposing standards on motherhood and pregnancy; and (3) imposing how to ascribe value to risk. These arguments highlight how the state and medical institutions have established authorities in the birthing process to justify restricting homebirth. When the state and medical institutions are framed as the moral authority for birth places, contrasting preferences of pregnant individuals are bound to be judged with guilt-ridden sentiments, shame and other value-laden labels related to one’s choice rather than be seen as a reflection of the quality of institutional support. Homebirth restriction reflects that a pregnant person’s decision of birthplace is not isolated from the availability of one’s choice. Indeed, there is an ethical interest in restricting homebirth, as this could be benevolent at best and discriminatory at worst.Rad ispituje etičke aspekte ograničavanja poroda kod kuće. Fokusira se na to kako ograničenje poroda kod kuće može prekršiti načelo autonomije, jer trudnice ne samo da riskiraju gubljenje kontrole nad medicinskim odlukama s kojima se suočavaju, već i autonomiju nad svojim postupcima i kontrolu nad svojim tijelom. Koristeći Berlinovu raspravu o slobodi, rad govori o prilično skrivenoj opresivnoj prirodi ograničenja poroda kod kuće koja se pojavljuje pri pomaganju trudnicama u odabiru moralne opcije prema savjetima medicinskih stručnjaka, u vidu institucijskog neuspjeha u pružanju informiranog izbora ili opcija mjesta za rađanje pod izlikom štićenja „najboljeg interesa“ trudnica. Tri su glavna argumenta zbog čega ograničenje poroda kod kuće može potencijalno narušiti autonomiju: (1) nametanje autoriteta u odlučivanju o pitanjima majčinog tijela; (2) nametanje standarda u majčinstvu i trudnoći; i (3) nametanje načina pripisivanja vrijednosti riziku. Ovi argumenti ističu način na koji su državne i medicinske ustanove uspostavile ovlasti u procesu porođaja kako bi opravdale ograničavanje poroda kod kuće. Kada su državne i medicinske ustanove postavljene kao moralni autoritet za mjesto porođaja, sklonostima trudnica da rađaju kod kuće pripisuju se osjećaji krivice, srama i drugih negativnih vrijednosti koje se odnose na nečiji izbor, a ne doživljava ih se kao reakciju na kvalitetu podrške trudnicama u državnim i medicinskim ustanovama. Ograničenje poroda kod kuće odražava činjenicu da odluka trudnice o mjestu rađanja nije izolirana od prava na vlastiti izbor. Doista, postoji etički interes oko ograničenja poroda kod kuće, jer ono u najboljem slučaju može biti dobronamjerno, a u najgorem slučaju diskriminatorno

Decanonized Reading: Intellectual Humility and Mindfulness in Reading Canonical Philosophical Writings

Received 22 February 2018. Accepted 29 March 2018. Published online 3 April 2018.A serious concern faced by many scholars and readers of philosophy is how to proceed after reading the canonical texts; this may include the question – “why are they canons, anyway?” Of course, developing a passing knowledge of the works of mainstream philosophers remains an inevitable burden for students of philosophy. However, any specific written work is a product of particular vantage points and contexts, and thus cannot escape from showing partiality towards some perspectives. This work revisits the taken-for-granted assumptions involved in the selection of canonical texts and argues for a critical readership and re-imagination of their canonical status and pre-eminence. The necessity of a de-canonized reading of canonical texts is asserted; that is, a repositioning of these texts vis-à-vis the wide availability of non-canonical philosophical works, which permits a nuanced account of their reading and interpretation. Here, the goal is to examine the potential of an approach that prompts readers of philosophical texts to navigate the richness of different contexts and perspectives without being dependent on the Western agenda as the central frame of inquiry. It is hoped that this mode of rethinking may, at the very least, promote epistemic modesty

Perspectives on the Barriers to Nuclear Power Generation in the Philippines: Prospects for Directions in Energy Research in the Global South

This paper offers a discussion on the social dimensions of the barriers to nuclear power generation in the country. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature by identifying the barriers to nuclear power generation in the Philippines and offering perspectives on the social relevance of potentially adding nuclear sources to the country’s energy mix. Given the contemporary relevance of the energy transitions globally, this work builds on the available sources over the past decade concerning nuclear energy technology in the Philippines and provides further discussions on the diverse barriers to the country’s energy transition pathway. Findings present barriers related to politics, policy, infrastructure, technical capacities, environment and information. The differences in priorities and values concerning nuclear energy reflect that the barriers to nuclear energy generation in the Philippines are social as much as technical. Based on the findings and descriptions of the current discussions on Philippine energy generation, this work provides some key points for consideration in order to deploy nuclear power plants in the country. These recommendations, however, are not definitive measures and are still subject to local conditions that may arise. This study hopes to be instructive to other countries in terms of further reflecting on the social dimensions of the barriers to nuclear energy generation

Re-imagining “care”: Reflections from digital fieldwork with slum-dwelling children in the Philippines

This work offers a reflection on children's caring practices as participants of digital fieldwork. I interrogate and illustrate how children might offer a different appreciation of care as a practice in digitally-mediated research. Examining digitally-mediated research with children participants reveals invisible caring expressions during the research process as doing digital fields is complex, overlooking various aspects of care throughout the research process. I propose a paucity to appreciate children's caring practices amidst the uncertainty of digital fieldwork and refresh our cherishing of such agency amidst thinking. Through video calls with slum-dwelling Filipino children (9–12 years old), I narrate how children demonstrated their versions of caring practices. Findings discuss: 1) The audio-visual experience and children's curiosity and criticisms; 2) Children's creative caring practices through symbolic expressions; and 3) negotiated transnational care through digitally-mediated research. This paper emphasises that caring through the digital platforms is a multi-layered practice that is not only demonstrated by adults but also enacted by children in their own means. This study invites further engagement on digital children's geographies in disentangling children's roles in digitally-mediated research

Coastal Bodies and Childhood Memories: Exploring Baby Boomers’ Gendered Memories of the Waterfront in Virac, Catanduanes

Received 4 June 2021. Accepted 20 May 2022. Published online 11 July 2022.This work examines childhood memories of baby boomers in the municipality of Virac, Catanduanes Island (Philippines) to examine gender dynamics in Virac’s seascapes. Through drawing together Donna Haraway’s (1988) notion of partial perspectives and Frigga Haug’s (1987) memory-work, this article shows the entanglement between the fragmented memories of boomers and the gendered waterfront of Virac. Employing unstructured interviews, this work presents the meanings and imaginations of the waterfront beyond being economic and industrial spaces. Three relevant discussions emerged from this interest: first, the boomers’ narratives demonstrate how coastal femininities and masculinities are constructed in relation to bodies; second, in contrast to the masculine dismissal of emotions and desires, women’s emotion-bound memories show potentials in navigating the symbolic meanings of bodies in relation to Virac’s waterfront spaces; and third, memories recognise the past as a plurality of subjective meanings, with the waterfront as a relational space. These observations suggest that the waterfront and its contours work together to create remembered narratives that animate and shape Virac’s waterscapes. This work is an invitation to provoke further thoughts and engage in alternative methods in making visible hidden gendered processes in hidden spaces

Герменевтика нормативности стран БРИКС: анализ заметных нормативностей в совместных заявлениях саммита БРИКС

This paper offers a hermeneutical analysis on how the BRICS nations display normative commitments to their particular vision of international relations and global realities. Particular attention is given to their interpretations of regional identities and the way they link their international goals and ideals to their geographies. Analysis suggests that the BRICS nations not only have different levels of normative commitments, but also that these normativities are imbued with their own political constructs.В этом документе представлен герменевтический анализ того, как страны БРИКС демонстрируют нормативные обязательства в отношении своего особого видения международных отношений и глобальных реалий. Специальное внимание уделяется их интерпретации региональной самобытности и тому, как они связывают свои международные цели и идеалы со своей географией. Анализ показывает, что страны БРИКС имеют не только разные уровни нормативных обязательств, но и то, что эти нормативности пронизаны их собственными политическими конструктами.Работа выполнена при поддержке Российского научного фонда (грант № 18-18-00236)

Мотивация добровольных доноров спермы, принимающих участие в программах искусственного оплодотворения в Российской Федерации

This article explores the motivations behind Russian men’s altruistic sperm donation using Alderfer's Existence-Relatedness-Growth (ERG) model. Among the sample of 86 men, altru-istic motivation is mostly driven by existence and relatedness. Correlations tests indicated two patterns: 1) men driven by existence needs are more willing to maintain contact with the future child and less prone to self-promotion; 2) men driven by relatedness needs demon-strate the opposite characteristics. These results contribute to further research of reproductive donor motivations in Russia