Overview
This lecture introduces the ethics of care, contrasts it with mainstream ethical theories, and reviews early chapters of Virginia Held's book. It highlights care as both a practice and a value, focusing on relationships, interdependence, and the feminist critique of traditional moral frameworks.
Introduction to Ethics of Care
- Ethics of care challenges mainstream ethics by emphasizing relationships and care, originating from feminist critiques.
- Feminist philosophers argue that traditional ethics overlook perspectives and experiences of those outside power structures.
Heinz Dilemma and Gendered Moral Reasoning
- Kohlberg's moral development stages prioritize abstract principles, which Gilligan criticizes for devaluing care-based reasoning.
- Gilligan argues that women's responses often emphasize personal relationships and context, not abstract rules.
Critique of Mainstream Theories
- Mainstream theories (utilitarianism, deontology) focus on impartiality and universal rules, often neglecting the moral importance of close relationships.
- Ethics of care prioritizes attending to the needs of specific others in real relationships, not just general humanity.
Features of Ethics of Care (from Held)
- Emphasizes moral importance of caring for particular others for whom we take responsibility.
- Values emotion (empathy, sympathy, sensitivity) as central to moral judgment, rather than rejecting emotions.
- Rejects extreme abstraction and reliance on universal moral rules; values context and particularity.
- Focuses on the middle ground between egoism (self-interest) and universal altruism.
- Reconceptualizes the private (family, friendships) as morally significant, not just the public domain.
- Defines persons as inherently relational and interdependent, not isolated individuals.
Care as Practice and Value
- Care is both a laborious activity (practice) and an expression of moral attitudes (value).
- Genuine care requires both the act of caring and the appropriate motivating feelings or attitudes.
- Caring relations involve mutual trust and should aim for the good of both carer and cared-for.
Societal Implications
- Societal structures often devalue caring labor, disproportionately affecting powerless groups.
- Ethics of care can inform more equitable societal arrangements and recognize the value of caregiving roles.
Comparison with Virtue Ethics and Justice
- Ethics of care overlaps with virtue ethics (emphasizing character) but is distinct in prioritizing relationships over individual virtues.
- Proposes care and justice have distinct domains: care for close relations, justice for public life, but both are important.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Ethics of Care — An ethical theory focusing on care, relationships, and emotional responses as central to morality.
- Relational Personhood — The concept that individuals are fundamentally interdependent and defined by relationships.
- Caring Labor — Work (often unpaid or underpaid) involved in meeting others’ needs, such as parenting or nursing.
- Moral Abstraction — The process of formulating general rules or principles without attention to specific contexts.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Read Held, chapters 4 and 5, for the next class.
- Continue working on your papers.