Intro. To Phil - Feminist Care Ethics

INTRODUCTION TO
PHILOSOPHY
Dr. Deena Lin
FEMINIST THEORY
 Women are oppressed.
 History of Feminist Thought
• First Wave
• About gaining equal rights and economic
opportunities for women.
• Second Wave
• Recognized the causes of sexist oppression as
multifaceted and within every aspect of social life.
SIMONE DE BEAUVIOR
(1908-1986)
• The Second Sex: For things to change

women must no longer be thought of as the
second sex. Rather they must be understood
as just as valuable, and capable as men.
 Man  positive & neutral

 Woman  negative & limited, without
reciprocity
 Women are not autonomous, and are defined

only insofar as they differ from men.
BELL HOOKS
(1952-2021)
• Third Wave Feminism:

• Made diversity more central to feminist
theory and politics.
• Hooks: Feminism needs to be more inclusive

so it can be liberating for all women.
BETTY FRIEDAN’S
THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE
• Spoke to the dissatisfaction experienced by

women who were supposed to find
fulfillment in being wives and mothers.
• hooks:
• This speaks to a “select group of college-
educated, middle and upper class, married
white women.”
• Non-white and/or poor women don’t have
the luxury of being bored of a life of
leisure.
• White feminism fails to speak to the
CORE THEMES OF
FEMINISM
 Importance of women’s experiences
 Gender bias
 Need for moral reform and taking women’s

experiences and insights as valuable in their own right.
ETHICS OF CARE
 Care Ethics: An Ethical Theory
 Justice vs. care perspectives:
Male ethical perspective Female ethical
perspective
Impersonal Personal
Impartial Partial
Public Private
Contractual Natural
Reason Feeling
Fair Compassionate
Universal Concrete
Rights Responsibility
Individual Relationship
Autonomy Solidarity
NELL
NODDINGS
 Morality requires people to have two emotions:
1. Natural care: ”pre-ethical” care, where
mothers care for their children.
2. Ethical care: recognizes the needs of others,
and sees that one is in a position to meet
that need.
 Ethics of care is a normative theory where the

decision one ought to make is one that
benefits or fails to harm our relationships with
CORE ELEMENTS OF THE
ETHICS OF CARE
1. Caring always takes place within relationships.
 Symmetrical
 Asymmetrical
2. Caring relationships are those where people are intimately tied
to one another. <Mutuality>
 Value
 Feelings
 Knowledge
 Trust
3. Caring relationships transform us.
4. The normative element of care ethics is that it is centered
around forming good, healthy relationships.
VIRGINIA
HELD
 Thesis: By valuing women’s

experiences care ethics can serve as
an important moral perspective that
places personal relationships at the
forefront.
“FEMINISM AND MORAL
THEORY”
 There is no one-size-fits-all moral theory.
 What is more important is that our theories become

validated by way of our experiences.
 We need a more pluralistic view of ethics.

MOTHER AND CHILD
RELATIONSHIP
 “The most central and fundamental relationship” that
exists.
 Mothering should be valued because it is the “most
human of human activities.”
 Human mothers are conscious that they’re bringing in
a new life into the world.
 Human mothers impart their children with language
and symbols.
 By bringing in a new life, human mothers are
potentially enacting real change in the world.
 Relating in this way can be seen as emblematic of the
kind of trust and concern we should have for other
human lives.  Offers a new means of conceiving our
moral obligations to others.
COMPARING WITH
TRADITIONAL
THEORIES
 Traditional tension in ethics: self vs. universal
 Feminist concern: “the domain of particular others in
relations with one another.”
 To focus on the subjective is not to limit individuals as
being solely ethical egoists or self-concerned.
 We should validate the moral considerations parents make
when rearing children.
CARING
DIFFERENTLY
 Men and women care for their children differently.
 The connection and care exhibited in the mother-to-child
relationship can be deeper and more significant than
that father-to-child one.
 Mothers give birth.
 Women suffer much more to give them life than men
do.
 Children are a more precious commodity for women.
CONCLUDING
THOUGHTS
 There are reasons that one may value lives in certain
ways. Mothers care in deeply sympathetic, empathic,
and nurturing ways that can ensure that children will
grow into healthy adults.
 Care ethics offers a different emphasis on relationships,

and shows that creating impactful social relations
between individuals should be seen as a moral good.

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INTRODUCTION TO

• The Second Sex: For things to change

 Man  positive & neutral

 Women are not autonomous, and are defined

• Third Wave Feminism:

• Hooks: Feminism needs to be more inclusive

• Spoke to the dissatisfaction experienced by

 Need for moral reform and taking women’s

 Ethics of care is a normative theory where the

 Thesis: By valuing women’s

 What is more important is that our theories become

 We need a more pluralistic view of ethics.

 Care ethics offers a different emphasis on relationships,

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