Carol Gilligan An Ethic of Care

1. Carol GilliganAn Ethic of Care

2. What is the Ethic of Care? • Carol Gilligan • Interested in stages of moral development. • The Ethic of Care is Critical response to the work of her mentor, Lawrence Kohlberg

3. Lawrence Kohlberg • Developed a stage theory of moral development patterned after Piaget. • Asked young men to describe their moral reasoning processes • Kohlberg showed that young Western males tend to morally develop toward higher and higher levels of moral reasoning: from absolute self-interest to realization of rights and justice for everyone equally*. • Stage 1: Pre-conventional (self-interest) • Stage 2: Conventional (social harmony) • Stage 3: Post-conventional (universal ethical principles)

4. Rights & Justice are terms developed during the Enlightenment • What were the assumptions about the nature of human existence in the worldview of enlightenment liberals? • According to Enlightenment liberalism, man is… • Rational • Free (liberty; liberal) • Equal • Unencumbered • Autonomous • Rights-bearing • Individual

5. In a Different Voice, Gilligan noted… • that Kohlberg’s sample almost entirely consisted of young western European men. • that he based his interpretation of results on one kind of moral reasoning: enlightenment liberalism Her own research suggests… • Women tend to struggle with moral dilemmas in a different way. That little voice they hear is “A different voice” than the one men tend to hear.

6. Women tend to… • Value social relationships before individual freedoms • Emphasize connection more than detachment • Consider social responsibility and obligation before individual rights • Emphasize the particular before universal • Consider lived experience to be a more important guide to future behavior than philosophical abstractions …reason through an Ethic of Care as opposed to an Ethic of Justice

7. This fundamental world-view underlies many different modern critical approaches. • It is a re-current and underlying theme of this course in practical moral reasoning. • A familiar refrain • We exist • We’re connected • We’re obligated • We ought to care

8. Some Questions? • Are “Care” and “Justice” really diametrically opposed to one another. • Care is not the opposite of justice • Care is not the only alternative to justice • They are both worthy ends • They are both goods, and rights, and virtues • Can you conceive of a moral decision that is both ‘careful’ and ‘just’? • Are Care- and Justice-based approaches mutually exclusive? • Who is to say we can’t care and realize justice? Care toward justice? • "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" - Dr. MLK Jr. • Is there a coherent Ethics of Justice? • Do men and women really develop in moral stages? • Do men and women really reason all that differently? • Are men capable of caring? Women of justice? • Who or what is deserving of care? • People? (what about a zygote?) • Animals? (Gorillas? Whales? Frogs? Mosquitoes?) • Plants? (Food crops? Beautiful flowers? Knapweed?) • Rocks? (The eye of the needle? Mt. Rushmore? Minewaste rock?) • Systems? (Ecosystems? Economic Systems? Political Systems?)

9. Extending the circle…the Ethic of Care “Until he extends the circle of compassion to ALL living things, man will not himself find peace.” Albert Schweitzer ? All of us Me and you Me