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What are children for? In conversation with Anastasia Berg

What are children for? In conversation with Anastasia Berg

Nick Spencer speaks with Anastasia Berg, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. 15/07/2025

Western societies have fallen out of love with (having) children, and all too often this is treated as a policy problem. But in reality, it’s a much deeper personal and philosophical one.

What has changed in our attitudes to having children? How do we understand the role and standing and “purpose” of children in society? What, in effect, do we think children are for?

This week Nick Spencer talks with Anastasia Berg about her book co–authored with Rachel Wiseman, ‘What are children for? On Ambivalence and Choice’

Purchase a copy of their book here.


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Nick Spencer

Nick Spencer

Nick is Senior Fellow at Theos. He is the author of The Landscapes of Science and Religion (OUP, 2025), Playing God: Science, Religion and the Future of Humanity (2024), and Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023). Nick is host of the podcast Reading Our Times.

Watch, listen to or read more from Nick Spencer

Posted 15 July 2025

Podcast, Reading Our Times, 348

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