Exchanging ideas: philosophy and ethics for care and welfare

As a worker in one of the social professions, you are confronted with questions of a philosophical nature on an almost daily basis: are drug users responsible for their addiction? Is compulsory admission more humane than respecting the self-determination of a psychiatric patient? Should loitering youth be dealt with harshly? The answers to these questions conceal views on responsibility, human dignity, power, freedom and justice. These views affect the way in which professionals act. They may therefore be expected to consider how to think about these types of themes. In Van denken wissel (Exchanging thoughts), these themes are elaborated on from various disciplines of philosophy, such as political philosophy, social philosophy and philosophy of science. Each chapter focuses on a discipline, in which the author discusses the ideas of philosophers and this concerns themes from the practice of social professions. In doing so, he offers a critical view of self-evident views and trends in social professions. Each chapter concludes with thought exercises, which encourages (future) professionals to reflect on their own actions. The practice-oriented elaboration makes Van denken wissel a very accessible book for students of social studies and for social professionals. Richard de Brabander is a lecturer at the School of Social Work of Hogeschool INHOLLAND. He is also a research fellow at the Dynamics of the City lectorate.