The concept of the ethics of care has developed over the last decades as a general moral approach guiding both the political and social systems. The idea encompasses many spheres of ethical theories, and as a result, the society has developed new strategies for dealing with moral problems and changes. Ethics of care has expanded in almost every realm of lives with normative perceptive as the primary guideline. Virginia Held in the Ethic of care, emphasize that the theory differs from the alternative approaches because it focuses mainly on the important emotional aspects such as compassion, sensitivity, receptiveness, and empathy. In other words, the theory recognizes the moral import and relation of one another. The essay will seek to provide an argument that the ethics of care offers a more comprehensive structure of guiding morality as compared to the other moral theories.
Unlike Kant’s argument on motives for practical ethics, the ethics of care allows for a broader understanding of the entire framework of the moral agents. That is, it helps in putting more emphasis on the fact that these structures do not only incorporate interaction between individuals but rather, also include the relationship between individuals and the institutions (Tronto " Joan 171). For this reason, the doctrine has played a pivotal role in providing a framework that that government institutions can base when formulating policies. According to Held, relationship surpasses the limit that delineates public and private institutions and also individuals from the organizations and the country at large (Held 155). However, the link between the inter-groups may differ and at times more considerably from other categories. For instance, Held's philosophy of care indicates that there will be a difference on how friends, general citizens, and powerful nations relate to each other. Therefore, although individuals embed these relations in everyday life, what is important is that they always target to favor both sides.
Concerning normative understanding, the theory bases the moral arguments on the standard experience of care. According to Held's case, every individual received attention as a child because if it were absent then, they would not be alive (Held 120). Therefore, she gives an insight of the values implicated to care. Importantly, like many other theories that invoke religious beliefs, her approach does not focus on dubious claims but instead, gives morality a priority. That is, it does not concentrate on the questionable assertion of universal norms of reason, but somewhat, she developed it by reflection, experience, and understanding the most crucial inclusive values. In her doctrine, she points out that, for many people, caring for one’s child seems to be the primary moral concern of every individual. The essence of her argument is that her philosophy appreciates the fact that people are dependent in most of their lives and as a result, there is the urgency of developing moral aspects that are related to care (Peterson "Robinson 64) Thus, prospects of human development depend entirely on the care that one acquires in addition to the driving moral of the individual giving it.
Kantian ethics and utilitarianism relegate care to a realm outside of morals. On the contrary, Held's philosophy insists that, when giving it, one should do so by maintaining the moral standards regardless of the universal principles. Besides, when making considerations between what is morally right and wrong, it does so while considering individuals emotions (Robinson"Fiona 850). Although not all the feelings are worth considering, the doctrine provides a dominant rationale approach that distinguishes which emotions to recognize. For instance, moral sentiments that need development are empathy, sensitivity, responsiveness, and empathy. However, sometimes emotions such as anger serve as an aspect of reliable indication that individuals should learn to detect when treated inhumanely and as such it will help in the interpretation of corrupt morals. Nevertheless, raw emotions cannot always be indignation of wrong morals and therefore an individual need to develop rationalistic deductions as a guide to morality.
Most rationalistic moral philosophies undermine the standard moral norms, and in most cases, they focus on the egoistic feelings. In this case, the favoritism interferes with the impartiality which in effect gives restraints to the ethics related to care. However, on the other hand, the ethics of care recognizes emotions that are likely to create relational capabilities. Often, individuals in the contemporary world, always find themselves in the grip of contractual thinking when giving care. According to Held, in most cases, individuals tend to interpret realities while formulating their opinions in regards to rational contracts (Held 147). In this respect, they, therefore, assert that it is logical to enter into a contractual relationship with each other. Therefore, to establish a coherent relation with one another, then individuals must learn to uphold the standard ethical guidelines
The feminist theory of morality significantly differs to that of other ethnic theorists such as Kantian. Specifically, unlike different philosophies, emotions appear to guide feminist approach to morality instead of reason. Nevertheless, the proposal faces criticism whereby Kantian argues that women are less likely to be entirely moral because in most instances thy use emotions instead of reason to guide their actions (Slote "Michael 230). However, their assumptions are questionable because, the ethics of care rules are more applicable and especially on the law domain whereby, they give moral guidelines on the when making judgments. The ethics of care is far more dominant compared to other moral philosophies such as the Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, and the Aristotelian virtue of ethics. In fact, the theory has moved further than the original formulations, and in most cases, it appears as a form of virtue ethics (Engster " Daniel 244). Importantly, the doctrine puts more emphasis on the ignored aspects of ethical considerations with a focus on the morality of justice and preference to one's satisfaction Therefore, individuals should be able to follow amoral instructions to differentiate the relations that are morally right from those that are not.
While the dominant moral philosophies view moral challenges as a conflict between humankind and the ethical principles, the ethics of care mainly focuses on the causes of these conflicts. In other words, the dominants theory, fail to recognize the reasons between the extremes of egoistic individuals and the moral principles. In this view, Held argues that her philosophy guides individuals to be more concerned about the interest of those whom they are caring for rather than having more interest in their issues (Petterson " Tore 370). Thus, the person offering care to another individual should strive to promote a human relationship with the person they are caring for this reason, their approach should not be altruistic or egoistic. In other words, the caring association should incorporate promoting the wellbeing of another person as well as that of oneself.
In the bid to deal with the hostility between religious tribalism intolerance, the dominant doctrines tend to incorporate the aspects of family relationships and friendship relations as a source of the unfair favoring. However, the ethics of care doctrine appreciates the moral value of care and the significances of the friendships and family relations. Held maintains that there is the need for following the moral guidance in these domains to understand how they should relate with one another (Held 125). For this reason, the feminist ethic provides direction of the dynamic development of the society today. It advocates for women equality in the existing social and political structures in the community. Besides, the feminist ethics, call for justice in ethical consideration practices that emphasize on upholding morally acceptable values when offering care.
The standard moral theories have only focused on portraying the public life as the main bases of the of the moral values, and as a result, they overlooked the role of moral values in private aspects of private life such as friendship and family relationships. In this view, the prevailing philosophy appears to suggest that, morality mostly encompasses independent and mutually unrelated individuals who are presumably equal (Fredman"arilyn 540). However, their idea seems irrational because they overlooked the aspect of the moral issue and care that is present in most cases between interconnected family members and friends. For instance, in the family context, there is a possibility of a relation between two individuals with unequal power because when it comes to the social life, we cannot choose where to belong. Therefore, rather than putting more emphasis on the non-contractual relation principles, feminist theory conceptualizes on the moral values that imagine contractual standards.
Notably, the feminist theory puts more emphasis on the values guiding how people with unequal power relate with one another. In this case, its guideline on the relation between persons with different social status classes and dependent individuals such as children and in effect takes notices on how they attribute to the broader society. According to the feminist theory, there is the need of taking into consideration involuntary associations since no one chooses which racial, class, ethnic group, religious or cultural setting (Sevenhuljsen"Selma 170). Consequently, recognizing these ties is crucial so that there can be a comprehensive understanding of how these ties relate to moral knowledge in the community.
A significant prime attribute of the feminist ethics is that it reconceptualizes the common perception, concerning moral guidelines on the private and public aspects. The traditional theory depicts households as a private sphere and that the government should interfere with it in any way without obtaining consent. Conversely, feminist theories have asserted that economic, social, political and economic power of men has adversely restructured the institution. For this reason, women and children are disadvantaged, and as a result, women have become more financially dependent on men rendering them vulnerable to domestic violence. Notably, the nation’s law has also intruded on women's private life while on the other hand; they do not in any way take actions against the man's actions of using coercive power in their homes.
Unlike Kant’s view functions of ethics as a driving force of finding the virtue of care, ethics of care put more emphasis on the intrinsic nature of care. In other words, it put more stress on the fact that, it is essential to have good morals. The feminist’s theorists insist that one can enhance the virtues of care mainly through holding extensive dialogue with other people. In this view, Held argued that the ethics of care is an undeniable moral salience and zeal of taking care of others’ needs (Held, 140). Besides she recognizes the emotions and relationships that make morally responsible people be in an of understanding what the society requires from them. Therefore, Held's philosophy respects the actual human connection instead of that between people with equal power as the other theories argue.
Importantly, the feminist’s theory of the ethics of care conceptualizes individuals as being inherently connected with one another. Conversely, traditional ethic views people as being independent. To that end, the concept of persons is, therefore, the dominant concern in Held’s philosophy. In this case, she argued that dependency begins at birth where the child is dependent on the caregiver, and after that, people remain independent throughout their lives in one way or another (Held 145). However, deepening on the extent of the social relations that people have, some may tend to think that they are independent. Held's argument of interdependence between humankind and the institutions reflects the moral levels that should exist in both political and economic interactions (155). Therefore, during our relationship with one another or when giving care, persons should do so while upholding the standard moral virtues.
The feminist ethics of care puts more emphasis on the concept of moralities of justice whereby, Held argued that the law and the public policies should adopt a moral way of thinking when implementing policies and during court proceedings (146). Equally important, justice is paramount even in the home setting to protect against domestic violence, childhood abuse, and also an inequitable division of labor. The feminist theory of ethics of care persuasively argues that justice is crucial in the context of the court whereby each person should receive humane treatment. Besides, the philosophy advocates for justice in health and educational sectors, in essence, that the authorities in these institutions should offer their services in a fair way while dealing with the people's welfare as social responsibilities.
In sum, care is undoubtedly the most fundamental value that any individual can have. Given the above arguments, Virginia Held's ethics of care provides a more comprehensive structure of guiding morality and especially in the context of care. The emphasis on justice in caring relations is of importance because of the applicability in social and political life. For instance, the ethics of car values plays a pivotal role in creating peace within the society, and as such, it brings light concerning the relevant moral transformations in the community. Instead of having a nation dominated by economic advantages and restrained by law, the society will give priority to enhancing caring relations. In this view, the care will develop not only among the general populace but also between the citizens and the government institutions. Therefore, if correctly implemented, the ethics of care appears more significant and relevant to life in the community as compared to the traditional theories.
Works Cited
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