'Before the Dark of Reason': Some Ethical and Epistemological Considerations on the Otherness of Children

Abstract

This paper focuses on the 'otherness' of childhood. I argue that this otherness has to be acknowledged and respected within the various, welcome attempts in social science study, and society more widely, to somehow bring children into various practices, to listen to their voices and to see things through their eyes. Some ethical and methodological considerations of this are considered, particularly the notion of ethical space, epistemological limits and developments in theory and methodology.