Written response - Essay Example

NEL NODDING ON RELATIONSHIPS s Nel Noddings has played a major role in defining the ethics of care. According to this proponentcaring is a foundation of ethical decision making. Noddings believe that we cannot care if there is no relationship existing amongst us. Noddings believe that a relationship is first created by reception relatedness and engrossment. She argues that relationships involve caring for the needs of each other. This comes through when we develop the sense of reception and start caring about each other.

Noddings believe that caring is a basic need in human life and all people deserve caring. The author relates this to the natural instinct of caring that man and women develop in terms of provision of basic needs. According to Noddings females have a high instinct of caring especially in the way they take care of their children (Noddings N. , 1989). In addition to this, men also develop some sense of caring by the fact that they are the breadwinners in their families. Noddings is keen to assure us that caring involves two parties.

The party that gives the care and the party that receives the care. According to Noddings caring will only be relevant if the party given the care accepts the care and provides a positive feedback. On the contrary I believe that someone can show care and be neglected. This does not mean that the care provided is unethical. However, I cannot rule out the fact that some people show caring that are unethical due to the type of relationship established. For this reason I chose to agree with Noddings that ethical moments falls on how we respond to the intuition on what is right and what is wrong.

This means that our interpretation of what is right and wrong determines whether the care we give or receive is ethical. The author further clarifies that there is a difference between caring for and caring about. She suggests that caring about is more general than caring for and therefore needs more attention. Moreover, the author argues that caring about plays the major role of establishing our sense of justice. The author affirms this by saying this, “Those who care about others in the justice sense must keep in mind that the objective is to ensure that caring actually occurs.

Caring-about is empty if it does not culminate in caring relations” (Noddings, 1984). Noddings believe that our sense of morality creates the difference in which we pay attention to human beings and animals. The close proximity that one enjoys with his friend and animal determines how we care about each other. Noddings believe that our moral sense determines the care for animals something that I agree with. There is a difference in many ways through which we take care of our animals. Some of us take great care while others are very negligent.

The caring is subject to the kind of relationship established between man and the animal. The fact that animals lack moral consciousness like humans is what makes man treat animals differently. ReferencesNoddings, N. (1984). Caring, a feminine approach to ethics & moral education. Berkely: University of California Press.Noddings, N. (1989). Women and evil. Berkeley: University of California Press.