Ethics

Ethics Study Guide

Chapter 6: Feminism, Equality, and Duty

©2018 Achieve Page 44 of 116 Their level of affectedness by one’s choices and no one else’s. The necessity of attending to the contextual details of the situation in order to protect and promote the actual specific interests of those involved. While some feminists have criticized care-based ethics for reinforcing traditional female stereotypes, others have embraced part of this paradigm under the theoretical concept of care- focused feminism. Carol Gilligan , a psychologist who studied the differences in morality between the sexes, found that men tended to define morality in more global terms, and women used more affective terms. Her body of work, and others, led to the notion of a female moral perspective. This perspective focuses on the context of relationships, emphasizes responsiveness and responsibility to others, and focuses on love, trust, and human bonding. When questioning men and women about the need for morality, women stressed the need to protect individuals from harm and the trauma that might result from that harm. Women are able to empathize with others and tend to focus on feelings associated with real-life situations. The context of women’s moral decision making is said to be one of relatedness to harm that might befall others. Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe why the ethics of care is thought to be a feminine ethic. 2. Understand Simone de Beauvoir’s idea of bad faith. 3. Discuss John Rawls’ theories of social justice. 4. Explain the pluralistic account of William David Ross. 6.1 Feminine Ethics The ethics of care is a normative ethical theory that was developed by feminists in the second half of the twentieth century during the women’s movement. While consequentialist and deontological ethical theories emphasize universal standards and impartiality, ethics of care is a communitarian approach that emphasizes the importance of relationships. The basis of the theory is the recognition of: 1. The interdependence of all individuals for achieving their interests. 2. This belief that those particularly vulnerable to our choices and their outcomes deserve extra consideration, to be measured according to: a. Their level of vulnerability to one’s choices. b.