The Ethics of Care - Essay Example

?Explain and evaluate one of the following: Care Ethics Introduction: The care ethics regards to the principles that people usually have and follow the way of dealing with every relationship in day to day life. According to “The ethics of care: Personal, Political, and Global”, written by Virginia Held, the care ethics has not limited to this but now it can be explained involving a vast area as care ethics can be seen in case of medical practice, political life, war, international relationship, organization of a society and law. These things are involved in such a manner that they are now a part of it. According to Sara Ruddick, the pioneer of care ethics, in her article “Maternal thinking” which explained the experience of mothering and the care she gives to the baby, the care for the relationship around her and also provides a unique approach to the ethics. She also targets on feminist politics which was not of much importance those days. Different kinds of ethics that is related to care ethics Since there are many forms of ethics like the virtue ethics, which decides about a person by looking at their behavior and to decide be either good or bad to them according to that person. The care ethics can be considered as a form of virtue ethics in some instances but it does not completely rely on principles of virtue ethics. To promote the interest of everyone towards oneself as mentioned in “what would satisfactory moral theory be like”, which is the principle of Rachel’s utilitarianism will sometimes collide with the aspects of the care ethics. Though it consists of few principles of them, they are separate entity altogether. Features of care ethics: According to Nel Nodding, caring for those who are not related to us but need some attention is the main principle of care ethics. This can be evaluated though an example. When a child fell while playing, the care we show to him when he is our own child should never be different from the one we show to others child. This makes sense as the care might vary from one person to another. She also suggests caring for those who are in need for it and stress one to show some responsibility to respond for such people. This might include the aged people who are facing incurable diseases or illness of later life. These people will have the craving for care and giving care to them is worth. The care ethics has good value for emotions according to Virginia Held. Not all the emotions are entertained but some of them are handled with great care. According to this theory, the one who develops this value for emotion will also train themselves to help the one in need, who or else fail to make this happen. This is very important to make a relationship successful one. Importance The care ethics completely rely on the fact to care for everyone. This creates a limitation to act according to the behavior of the other person but it does not stop one from caring. Most of the care ethics refers to a relationship and many authors support this statement. According to Annette Baier, the care ethics depends on many character traits which include sympathy, compassion and gentleness. Sometimes agreeability also plays a major role in balancing a relationship. This not only helps one to be close to another but creates a basic relationship with everyone in turn brings harmony among individuals. Evaluation: Most of the time, the care ethics create controversies. There are many incidents where the ethics are both for and against the topic. Creating an environment where one should care for other is right but sometimes it has to be according to the act and behavior of the other person. Showing a lot of care for those who worth it is of no use. Many times we come across such situation where people don’t bother is someone is hurt or ill but in turn they seek for attention when they are not well. Helping such people might be good but not always. Expecting a bit of the same when one is not well is required is what Carol Gilligan says. Though these aspects like valuing emotions are right as people need some value to be given when the other is in such situation, this does not mean to take the advantage of people who value the emotion of others. This creates controversies. The stress, anger, sadness are all to be cared in a proper manner according to Virginia Held. People has the wrong assumption of having slave morality in care ethics as it is always concerned with who is caring for whom. This is the concept kept forward by Frederick Nietzsche who refers it to be “enforced sexual division of labor”. The care ethics is also seen as the ethics which has justice, autonomy and equality but they cannot take it as a moral theory completely according to some people who does not accept the utilitarianism and they argue that some of the principles of care theory are completely from those ethics which already exists. So making the principles from existing principle won’t create a new ethics. Possibility: Though there are many places where the care ethics and theory can be applied, it is not considered as a separate entity because of some of its drawbacks. The major one is stated as the sharing of principles from other theory which stops the care ethics to form as a separate entity. Apart from this, the care is a normal concept and this ethics is an inbuilt instinct of every individual. There are many philosophers who support and suggest that people might feel like taking care of the one in need and sometimes they might not make this. The care ethics help people to stay in a relationship for long term and this can be for those which create an intertwined web or makes one be with other based on trust. The only weakness seen is that the ethics shares many principles and so they need not have a separate. Conclusion: According to most of the feminine ethics, the care ethics is seen as a feminine ethics which is related to the maternity, parental care and the relationship between a women and her child. But the care ethics is much more than concentrating just on one subject. This makes one know the care ethics as much more than it seems to be. The overall aspects make it clear that the care is the only way to be in a relationship for long time and bring harmony in the world we live. Reference: Held, Virginia. Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Held, Virginia. “Feminist Moral Inquiry and the Feminist Future” in V. Held (ed.) Justice and Care. Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 2006: 153-176. Held, Virginia. The Ethics of Care. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. Noddings, Nel. Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley: University of CA Press, 1982. Noddings, Nel. Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy. Berkeley, CA: University of CA Press, 2002. Ruddick, Sara. Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace. New York, NY: Ballentine Books, 1989. What would a satisfactory moral theory be like? Chapter 13, page 173 to 183. Read More