Domestic violence topic of MSUM prof’s talk
“Understanding Domestic Violence as a Violation of Respect and Care,” a talk by MSUM Philosophy Professor Marilea Bramer, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18 at the Presentation Center, Plains Art Museum. A discussion will follow.
Though there has been philosophical work focusing on some types of violence against women, there has been little work done on domestic violence specifically. The reason for this is most likely that domestic violence seems obviously morally wrong. Violence, after all, is a violation of one’s moral duty to respect others. Bramer argues that simply framing the problem of domestic violence as a violation of respect misses the important violation of care that also occurs. Both of these violations contribute to the greater violation of autonomy—the ability to choose one’s own life plan and to act on that plan—that occurs in domestic violence.