The ideas of “care” and “justice” are fundamental measures in our everyday lives. While both of these values for living are critical elements for leading a fulfilled life, they are not completely complimentary to each other. Micheal Sandel’s Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? Is a proponent of justice-based philosophy. On the other hand, Virginia Held’s The Ethics of Care is an advocate for care-based philosophy, which questions the priority that other philosophers have put on justice thus far in the discussion of ethics. Held asserts that, “the focus of the ethics of care is on the compelling moral salience of attending to and meeting the needs of the particular others for whom we take responsibility” (Held 10). Care Ethics are intended …show more content…
Held “is concerned that impartial and universalizable rules do not guide us adequately in dealing with close personal relationships” (Freidman 546). Universal rules of morality in a way, take away the personal and emotional bond that a person, according to Held, should have with their ethical reasoning. This rejection to universalizing principles is shown through her refusal to give a precise definition of the word “care,” because in Held’s opinion, moral standards mean different things to different people and communities. Moreover, even though Sandel is a type of communitarian, Held would not completely agree with his statement that, “communal encumbrances can be oppressive” (Sandel 221). Held acknowledges the dangers of oppression that communities can hold, even in her own feminist ethics. For example, while the idea of basing ethics off of the “feminine” idea of care, the suggestion that women are caring can add to oppressive gender roles in a community. Yet, Held’s entire ethics of care is based off of a community of people “engaging in a caring relational practice” (Held 39). Moreover, the fact that Sandel never mentions women, throughout his entire Justice is cause for concern to Held. Obviously, this would be seen as a problem to Held, who emphasizes the importance of the female perspective of ethics, and maintains that “care values [are] positive involvement with others [that foster] social bonds and cooperation” (Held
(Slide 3). Gilligan argues how women have initiated another way of looking at ethics. Gilligan pointed out that there are two types of moral reasoning’s. Male ethics are of justice and female ethics of care. The ethics of care for women is directed to the respond of the needs of others in complicated situations. This approach mainly involves concepts like having compassion, relationships, and responsibilities. (Slide 18). Ethics of justice thinks that the situation is important in determining how it should be treated. Men base justice on rights, applying the rules to everyone and responsibility goes toward codes of conduct. (Slide 19). Male perspectives are held more publicly and are concrete on rights of law. Women on the other hand perceive things as a private
When dealing with an ethical dilemma, social workers usually reference back to Reamers 7-step process to help with ethical decision-making. In the given case study, we meet Lori a bright fourteen-year-old who is smart, involved in school activities, and sports. She has had a non-normative impacted life since she was young, such as her mother dying of breast cancer and father dying as well. She has no immediate family and was lucky enough to be placed in a foster home with a family who loves her and wants the best for her.
In this paper we will be look at the book called “Lying on the Couch”. I will be going over what I saw as the biggest ethical issues that I read about in this book, I will also go over my thoughts on this book and the ethical problems that I saw for Dr. Lash, Carol and Marshal Streider. I will explain my personal opinion regarding self-care and my reasoning as to why it is so important to maintaining clear boundaries.
Margaret Urban Walker’s Moral Understandings is most certainly a feminist study in ethics. The main purpose of her writings is to “account for the gender inequality in the socially constructed relationship between power—the political—on the one hand and the knowledge of truth and reality—the epistemological—on the other" (Walker 1998, 20). However, her approach is quite different than some of the feminist theorists that have come before her. Instead of taking what I call a “care-focused” approach where the primary task is to rehabilitate culturally associated “feminine” values, Walker takes “power-focus” approach in which she expresses an acute sensitivity to the fact that moral life and social life are intertwined. This power-focused perspective insists that our moral responsibilities flow from our social position, which as Walker notes, depends on our "gender, age, economic status, race, and other factors that distribute powers and forms of recognition differentially and hierarchically" (1998, 22). She explores the ways in which our power, or lack thereof, shapes our moral understandings and determines whose ethical vision is privileged as authoritative. To date, the economically and socially powerful have been largely responsible for setting the moral agenda for everyone. Walker regards this state of affairs as inequitable; as moral understanding is not the exclusive property of the privileged few, but the home turf of everyone.
Gillian also proposed the “Stages of the Ethics of Care” theory, which addresses what makes our actions right or wrong. Gillian’s theory focused on care-based morality and justice-based morality. Care-based morality is based on the following concepts:
There are questions about transplant allocation in regards to the four major ethical principles in medical ethics: beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence and justice. Beneficence is the “obligation of healthcare providers to help people” that are in need, autonomy is the “right of patients to make choices” in regards to their healthcare, nonmaleficence, is the “duty of the healthcare providers to do no harm”, and justice is the “concept of treating everyone in a fair manner” ("Medical Ethics & the Rationing of Health Care: Introduction", n.d., p. 1).
In his article "The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories," Michael Stocker argues that mainstream ethical theories, namely consequentialism and deontology, are incompatible with maintaining personal relations of love, friendship, and fellow feeling because they both overemphasise the role of duty, obligation, and rightness, and ignore the role of motivation in morality. Stocker states that the great goods of life, i.e. love, friendship, etc., essentially contain certain motives and preclude others, such as those demanded by mainstream ethics.11 In his paper "Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality," Peter Railton argues that a particular version of consequentialism, namely sophisticated consequentialism, is not incompatible with love, affection and acting for the sake of others. In the essays "War and Massacre" and "Autonomy and Deontology," Thomas Nagel holds that a theory of absolutism, i.e. deontology, may be compatible with maintaining personal commitments. The first objective of this paper is to demonstrate that despite the efforts of both Railton and Nagel, consequentialism and deontology do not in fact incorporate personal relations into morality in a satisfactory way. This essay shows that Stocker’s challenge may also hold against versions of Virtue Ethics, such as that put forth by Rosalind Hursthouse in her article "Virtue Theory and Abortion." The second objective of this discussion is to examine criticisms of Stocker made by Kurt Baier in his article "Radical Virtue Ethics." This essay demonstrates that in the end Baier’s objections are not convincing.
Watson, J. (2008). Nursing. The Philosophy and Science of Caring. Revised & Updated Edition. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
Throughout this paper I will argue between Mil (Utilitarianism) and Held (Care Ethics). Mil is a British Philosopher well known for his ethical and political work and Held is an American Feminist and Moral Philosopher. After reading this essay you will have a good view on what Utilitarianism and Care Ethics is and also what my concluding position is.
Virginia Held brings up many criticisms of traditional ethical theories in her essay. The ethics of care can be considered as a suitable substitution for other widely accepted ethical theories such as Kantian ethics. The ethics of care recognizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, especially those within the family unit. All people need care at some point during their life, be it at birth or old age. Caring for people that can not provide sufficient care for themselves is a fundamental part of a moral society. Ethical theories based on the importance of a rational and independent individual excludes the importance of interpersonal reliance.
The selection of this theory was based on its deceptively simple presentation. At a first look, the definition of “caring” would appear to be rather generalized. As a grand theory, it has
Justice plays a valuable part in the public’s life; no matter who you are or where you are from. In Michael Sandel’s Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? the reader encounters six specific approaches to lawfulness and ethical morality, which constitute of utilitarianism, libertarianism, Locke, Kant, Rawls, and Aristotle. Each of these definitive philosophies falls under one of three general concepts and categories. These consist of freedom, virtue, and welfare. Exclusively judging the title of the book, one may think that it attempts to solve or bring forth ethical and moral issues of our time. After reading the book however, the reader becomes aware that Sandel’s work is much
References Andre, C., & Velasquez, M. (2014). For Your Own Good. Retrieved January 3, 2016 from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v4n2/owngood.html. Buetow, S. (2005). To Care Is to Coprovide.
...ial Work and the Ethics of Care. Social Work and Society, 2 (1), pp. 5-8. Available at: http://www.gptsw.net/papers/mghrprtn7103.pdf [Accessed: 29 november 2013].
The Theory of Human Caring was initially based on data about a variety of aspects of caring, collected through an open – ended questionnaire. The purpose of this research was to evaluate different points of view, expressed by both the clients and registered nurses. In addition to this data, Watson’s theory uses broadly recognized work from other disciplines. Specific philosophers cited by Watson, as sources are Rogers, Whitehead, Gadow, Yalom, etc. Furthermore, she also recognises the contribution of the eastern philosophy in her work....