Abstract
In this paper, I examine how agency develops in children and I evaluate where parents and guardians are responsible for facilitating this development. I explain how parental scaffolding allows children to be supported by their parents to learn to hope, both as it is relevant to their growth and development, and as they begin to acquire particular skills relevant to their agency. Through what I call collaborative agency, I express the importance of parental facilitation and nurturing of the moral agency of their child so that they may better develop complete agency by adulthood. I explain the roles that hope, shame, contentment and community support play in an agent's development, and why it is essential to learn these skills through childhood so they may be mastered in adulthood.
Recommended Citation
Quinnan, Niamh
(2023)
"Hope, Contentment, and Shame: The Formulation of Agency in Children,"
Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy: Vol. 11, Article 4.
Available at:
https://commons.emich.edu/ac/vol11/iss1/4