Ethics of Care
Morality begins not with abstract rules but with concrete relationships of care.
What it claims
The ethics of care takes the basic unit of moral thinking to be not the independent individual but relationships of mutual dependence. Gilligan criticized Kohlberg's scale of moral development: by placing the language of justice and rights at the higher stages, it misclassified as immature a voice that thinks in the language of maintaining relationships and responsibility. Noddings held that morality arises in the concrete encounter in which the one caring attends fully to the other (engrossment) and that care is received.
Nearby positions
Goes together with
Key thinkers
Carol Gilligan · Nel Noddings · Virginia Held · Sara Ruddick · Joan C. Tronto