No Entry: The Evils of Social Deprivation

Debates about human rights neglect social rights. By ‘social rights’, I do not mean economic rights, such as basic subsistence, health, and education, which have received considerable attention. By ‘social rights’, I mean the rights that protect our fundamental interpersonal, associative, and community-membership needs irrespective of our economic circumstances. The project aims to remedy the neglect of these social needs by exploring 1) the theoretical and practical credentials of social human rights, and 2) the ethics and politics of sociability in acknowledging such rights. The project aims to show that we have more reason to attend to each other’s interpersonal needs than liberal thinking tends to recognise.

Childhood and Adolescent Loneliness

With Pamela Qualter

This interdisciplinary project will address conceptual, psychological, and ethical issues of childhood and adolescent loneliness. The research retreat will bring together philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists to tackle such questions as: What is the nature of the experience of loneliness during childhood and adolescence? How severe are its effects? What are the online behaviours of lonely children and adolescents? Is it morally acceptable to encourage lonely children and adolescents to use social media as a surrogate for direct interaction? What rights, if any, do children and adolescents have against being socially isolated or lonely? If children prefer to be isolated, do we have good psychological and moral reasons to disregard their preferences?