Guest Speaker: "Addressing Intimate Partner Violence"

Elizabeth Brake

Friday, March 7th, 2025 (12:10–2:00 PM) | Baker Science (Building 180) Room 0102

 

Abstract:

Protection of basic security against physical violence must have a high priority in liberal theories of justice; members of society can claim that the state take effective means to protect security. How would such theories approach security if women's security – especially vulnerability to intimate partner violence (IPV) – were taken as the paradigm? I argue that taking IPV as a paradigm security threat has extensive implications. Theories of justice need an account of how security is to be protected. While it is sometimes assumed that the criminal justice system protects security, there are distinctive barriers to protecting security in the case of IPV. Intimate relationships themselves create vulnerabilities to physical violence; addressing these vulnerabilities is arguably a more effective means to protecting security than criminal law. Accordingly, addressing IPV effectively – thereby protecting security – requires interventions beyond criminal law enforcement. 

 

Bio: 

Elizabeth Brake is a Professor of Philosophy at Rice University. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews. Brake’s research is primarily in feminist ethics and political philosophy. She is the author of Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law and has published in journals such as Ethics, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Social Theory and Practice, Kantian Review, and Economics & Philosophy. She is currently writing a book on wrongs in intimate personal relationships.