Self-Defense and Rights

This is the text of The Lindley Lecture for 1976, given by Judith Jarvis Thomson, an American philosopher

Uma defesa do aborto

Resumo O artigo analisa os argumentos contrários ao direito da mulher à interrupção voluntária da gravidez, fundamentando assim sua posição em defesa do direito ao aborto. A análise das contradições nos discursos do “direito à vida” ultrapassa as situações nas quais há risco de morte da mãe ou nas quais a gravidez decorreu de estupro. A consideração da mãe como pessoa moral inclui, na posição sustentada no texto, o direito a assegurar a própria vida e a escolher como esta vida será vivida. Nesta análise, o aborto é discutido em suas implicações políticas, morais e filosóficas. Palavras-chave: aborto; direito à vida; indivíduo; obrigação moral; gestação; escolha.   Abstract The article examines arguments opposing women’s right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy, thus basing its own stance in favor of the right to abortion.  Examination of contradictions in “right to life” discourses goes beyond life-threatening situations or pregnancies resulting from rape. Considering the mother as a moral person includes, in the stance sustained in the text, the right to guarantee her own life and to choose how it is going to be lived. In this analysis, abortion is debated for its political, moral, and philosophical implications. Key words: abortion; right to life; individual; moral obligation; pregnancy; choice.&nbsp

Listening to the parent voice to inform person-centred neonatal care.

Family integrated care (FIC), where parents are an integral part of their baby’s care and decision-making can enhance parental involvement and empowerment, contributing to decreased parental separation and stress. It follows that parents can also be a central part of neonatal education for staff in the neonatal speciality. This paper focuses on what students and staff can learn from parents about what they feel is important to make their experience better. A narrative, interpretive approach was undertaken to collect and analyse parent interview narratives. A specific question was posed to a purposive sample of parents who have had premature babies about what health professionals can learn from them. Thematic analysis revealed five key themes relating to the importance of: communicating; listening; empathising; acknowledging (the parent’s role); realising (what matters to parents). These elements were incorporated into a framework named by the mnemonic, ‘CLEAR’. This highlights what parents want staff to be cognisant of when caring for them and their babies. Learning from the parents in our care enables a greater understanding of their experiences at difficult and challenging times. Having a deeper understanding of parents’ experiences can contribute to enhanced empathic learning.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Parenting interventions for male young offenders: a review of the evidence on what works

Approximately one in four incarcerated male young offenders in the UK is an actual or expectant father. This paper reviews evidence on the effectiveness of parenting interventions for male young offenders. We conducted systematic searches across 20 databases and consulted experts. Twelve relevant evaluations were identified: 10 from the UK, of programmes for incarcerated young offenders, and two from the US, of programmes for young parolees. None used experimental methods or included a comparison group. They suggest that participants like the courses, find them useful, and the interventions may improve knowledge about, and attitudes to, parenting. Future interventions should incorporate elements of promising parenting interventions with young fathers in the community, for example, and/or with older incarcerated parents. Young offender fathers have specific developmental, rehabilitative, and contextual needs. Future evaluations should collect longer-term behavioural parent and child outcome data and should use comparison groups and, ideally, randomization

Safe spaces, support, social capital: a critical analysis of artists working with vulnerable young people in educational contexts

This article provides a critical and thematic analysis of three research projects involving artists working with vulnerable young people in educational contexts. It argues that artists create safe spaces in contrast to traditional educational activities but it will also raise questions about what constitutes such a space for participants. It will then show that skilled artists often mediate dichotomous pedagogical positions, characterised by competency and performance. It will employ the metaphor of a trellis to illustrate how artists provide flexible structure and support whilst allowing freedom and growth. Finally, it will discuss the social impact of the arts through the lens of social capital theory, highlighting the utility of the approach whilst also indicating areas for critical refinement

Nietzsche’s meta-axiology: against the skeptical readings

In this paper, I treat the question of the meta-axiological standing of Nietzsche's own values, in the service of which he criticizes morality. Does Nietzsche, I ask, regard his perfectionistic valorization of human excellence and cultural flourishing over other ideals to have genuine evaluative standing, in the sense of being correct, or at least adequate to a matter-of-fact? My goal in this paper is modest, but important: it is not to attribute to Nietzsche some sophisticated meta-axiological view, because I am doubtful that he has one. It is, however, to show that Nietzsche's texts do not necessitate the sceptical meta-axiological positions that have been attributed to him in the recent secondary literature. And it is thereby to suggest that we need not give up on the idea that Nietzsche takes the values he champions to have genuine evaluative standing – not because he has some sophisticated realist theory to this effect, but in a more philosophically unreflective way