The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global

Introduction

Virginia Held, a philosopher at the City University of New York, published the book in 2006. She treats care both as a practice – the work of meeting others’ needs, much of it done by women and unpaid – and as a value, and argues that the ethics of care is a moral theory in its own right, not a supplement to Kantian or utilitarian ethics. Persons are understood as relational and interdependent rather than as self-sufficient individuals. Justice and rights remain necessary but should be set within a wider network of caring relations. Held applies this to the market, civil society and international politics, arguing that care should limit the reach of markets and inform global policy.

Connections

Builds on

• In a Different Voice1982 · Carol Gilligan
• Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education1984 · Nel Noddings