Ethics of Care - Virginia Held

Ethics of Care - Virginia Held According to Virginia Held, what are some important features of an ethics based on care? - 1. Central focus is attending to needs of others 2. Condones emotions in the making of ethical decisions 3. Rejects the use of abstract reasoning in ethical decision making (Categorical imperative) 4. Re-conceptualizes traditional notions about the public and the private. (The house is traditionally a place where the public cannot interfere but held says this is used by males for power) 5) the ethics of care uses the concept of a person as a relational being as opposed to be a self-sufficient stand-alone rational agent - which is a central tenet of theories such as Kantianism. According to Held, what is Gilligan's sharp distinction between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care? - 1. Whereas an ethics of justice focuses on questions of fairness and equality, rights, abstract principles, an ethics of care focuses on trust, responsiveness, caring relations and 'narrative nuance' 2. Whereas an ethics of justice seeks a fair solution to competing interests, and ethics of care sees the interests of individuals as intertwined rather than opposing. How does Held attempt to reconcile the concepts of justice and care? - In situations involving care require justice, and that situations involving justice require care (Family situations involving care - protect children with justice) Ultimately, what are Held's views on the claim that the ethics of care and the ethics of justice should be merged into a unified theory? - Yes you need a comprehensive moral theory but the two...ethics of care/justice...shouldn't collapse into each other. Held says the two ethics have areas they need to remain dominant What are the similarities of virtue ethics and ethics of care? - Both de-emphasize abstract moral principles, both recognize that morality is something that is acquired and must be cultivated and nurtured. Why does Held resist the reduction of ethics of care to virtue ethics? - 1. VE doesn't give central stage to concept of care 2. VE is in traditions that are patriarchal 3. VE focuses on individuals where EC focuses on relations Outline Held's concept of care in terms of taking care - Taking care: take care of yourself because I care about you "human relatedness and the daily reaffirmations of connections" Outline Held's concept of care in terms of care as practice - if we really care about someone or something, then chances are we start taking care of that someone or something. Held also wants to emphasize that being a care-giver is not a matter of instinct. Outline Held's concept of care in terms of care as value - Evaluated by standards generated by the value of care, such as sensitivity, trust, mutual concern. Outline Held's concept of care in terms of caring relations - Held puts forward her view that care is both a practice (e.g., care-giving) and a value (used to generate standards to evaluate care-giving practices