The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability

ISBN-13: 9780198732587 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 160 str.

Elizabeth Barnes

Opis

Elizabeth Barnes argues compellingly that disability is primarily a social phenomenon--a way of being a minority, a way of facing social oppression, but not a way of being inherently or intrinsically worse off. This is how disability is understood in the Disability Rights and Disability Pride movements; but there is a massive disconnect with the way disability is typically viewed within analytic philosophy. The idea that disability is not inherently bad or sub-optimal is one that many philosophers treat with open skepticism, and sometimes even with scorn. The goal of this book is to articulate and defend a version of the view of disability that is common in the Disability Rights movement. Elizabeth Barnes argues that to be physically disabled is not to have a defective body, but simply to have a minority body.

Recenzje

In her engaging, powerfully argued, and good-humored book, Barnes seeks to illuminate the nature of physical disability, challenge the view that it has a negative impact on well-being, and defend a mere-difference view of disability ... It is a wildly creative, rigorous, and ground-breaking work that represents a significant contribution to the on-going inquiry into the nature and value of disability. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that it is the most important single-authored book in philosophy of disability to come out of the analytic tradition in a generation.

O autorze

Elizabeth Barnes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. She works on metaphysics, ethics, and social and feminist philosophy—and is especially interested in the places where these areas overlap.