Summary: Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy

Read the summary and the most important questions on Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• 1 History and major Authors

  This is a preview. There are 7 more flashcards available for chapter 1
  Show more cards here

• How can we describe ethics of care?

  We can it describe as a moral theory which implies 2 characteristics:
  1. that there is moral significance in the fundamental elements of relationships 
  2. and dependencies in human life. 
  Normatively, care ethics seeks to maintain relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of care-givers and care-receivers in a network of social relations.

• Critics have argued about care ethics. In what way?

  Critics fault care ethics ;
  1. with being a kind of slave morality, 
  2. and as having serious shortcomings including 
  

  • essentialism, parochialism, and ambiguity. 
    

• On which fields does care-ethics behave, influence and bother?

  Derived from feminist ethic, in relation to motherhood, international relations, and political theory, Care ethics is also widely applied to a number of moral issues and ethical fields, including caring for animals and the environment, bioethics, and more recently public policy. It is widely branched and emerged as a political theory and social movement aimed at broader understanding of, and public support for, care-giving activities in their breadth and variety.

• Gilligan made a distintinction based on the assumption of Kohlberg  that the moral reasoning of girls and women is immature because of its preoccupation with immediate relations. What did she refute?

  Gilligan asserted that the “care perspective” was an alternative, but equally legitimate form of moral reasoning obscured by masculine liberal justice traditions focused on autonomy and independence. She characterized this difference as one of theme, however, rather than of gender. Gilligan posited that men and women often speak different languages that they think are the same, and she sought to correct the tendency to take the male perspective as the prototype for humanity in moral reasoning.

• What are the characteristics of Nel Noddings theory?

  
  Noddings located the origin of ethical action in two motives:
  1. The human affective response that is a natural caring sentiment, 2. The memory of being cared-for that gives rise to an ideal self. 
  Noddings rejected universal principles for prescribed action and judgment, arguing that care must always be contextually applied.
  
  Noddings identified two stages of caring:
  1. “caring-for” - refers to actual hands-on application of caring services.
  2. “caring-about” - refers to a state of being whereby one nurtures caring ideas or intentions.

• What is the definition of care according Tronto and Fisher?

  It construes care as “a species of activity that includes everything we do to maintain, contain, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, ourselves, and our environment”.

• Which sub definitions does Tronto describes and distinct?

  Care can be understood simultaneously as stages, virtuous dispositions, or goals. 
  1. attentiveness, a proclivity to become aware of need; 
  2. responsibility, a willingness to respond and take care of need; 
  3. competence, the skill of providing good and successful care; and 4. responsiveness, consideration of the position of others as they see it and recognition of the potential for abuse in care (1994, 126-136). 

• What is the strong aspect of Tronto's view upon care comparant to NL?

  Tronto’s definition is praised for how it admits to cultural variation and extends care beyond family and domestic spheres.

• What is the main aspect to care due to gender and sex?

  As it currently stands, care ethicists agree that women are positioned differently than men in relation to caring practices, but there is no clear consensus about the best way to theorize sex and gender in care ethics.

• What is the the perceived flaw in care ethics for both authors (Laren and Sloten)?

  They see:
  1. a neglect of justice standards in how care is distributed and practiced, and 
  2. a relegation of care to the private realm, which exacerbates the isolation and individualization of the burdens of care already prevalent in liberal societies.