Feminist Ethics Flashcards
Feminists have critiqued other ethics on 5 fronts:
- show less concern for women’s issues
- show less concern for private spheres
- imply that women are less morally mature
- overrates masculine traits while underrating feminine ones (strength, rationality etc.)
- favour male ways of moralizing (rules, rights, universality) over female ways (relationships, partiality, responsibilities)
Standpoint theory:
- assumes that morality is timeless, contextless, and pure
- tells moral agents what they ought to do no matter who they are or what form of social life they inhabit
Ethics should not be a ____ _____ to follow. Instead, it should arise from …
- universal code
- the interactions between and among people
Ethics are ______.
interpersonal
Moral philosophers who forget standpoint theory will wind up representing as ‘universal’ a point of view that best represents …
only a socially advantaged group of white men
One must be careful not to ____ _____ by becoming _____.
- domination
- dominating
Male Ethics: Kohlberg’s ethical stages:
- young children do as they’re told to avoid punishment
- children help others only if they get helped first
- adolescents adhere to social norms to get approval
- adolescents develop a sense of duty and defer to authority to gain respect and admiration
- adults adopt a basic utilitarian perspective (do as you please but don’t hurt others)
- mature adults develop a universal Kantian ethical perspective
Gilligan’s stages:
- overemphasize self interests
- overemphasize others’ interests
- weave together self and others’ interests relationally
Women understand _____’s language of _____ and _____ rules, but men tend not to understand or value the language of ____ and ____.
- Kohlberg
- rational
- universal
- caring
- nurturing
We need level ____ thinking to guide _____ _____.
- 3
- moral deliberation
Level 3:
relational caring
Traditional ethics assume ____ between rational agents.
equality
Relationships are hardly ____.
equal
Without caring, inequality…
can turn to abuse
With caring, inequality…
becomes nurturing assistance
With level 3 caring, the relationship between …., rather than the relationship between ….., should guide us
- a nurturing person and a child
- two rational contractors
Can an ethic of care go too far?
- yes, if you care about someone no matter what they do
- if you care about them even when it’s unreciprocated
Distorted/undistorted care:
- caring cannot be demanded or forced
- because women are not yet equal in society, an ethic of care remains difficult
- as long as women do more than their fair share of care giving work, both sexes will remain morally deprived
Caring for someone means 2 things:
- really understanding what they need and what is important to them
- be willing to change yourself if that is required
You must also care about _____:
- yourself
- really understand who you are and what is important to you (no continual self sacrifice)
Moral principle for care-focused feminists:
caring relationships should be nurtured and this should guide our actions
Blending the 2 aspects of care-focused feminists means ______ with others. It is ______.
- engaging
- interpersonal
How are moral life and social life intertwined?
- moral responsibilities flow from our social position
- ie. gender, age, economic status, race, other factors distribute powers and forms of recognition differentially and hierarchically
In power focused feminist ethics, questions of _____, ______ and ______ now become central (in contrast to questions of _____, _______, and _____).
- authority
- credibility
- representation
- rationality
- universality
- logic
Not everyone has the same power to ____ or ______ moral terms, which means what is _____ for one person may not be for another.
- set or change
- ethical
Bullying only happens from _____ to _____. The _____ can engage in similar actions without _____.
- powerful
- powerless
Changing ____ ____ ____ is necessary before equality, justice, and/or caring can arise.
oppressive power relations
You can’t be ____ within an _____ system.
- ethical
- unethical
We must learn to see our _____ in society and use that to help craft a more _____ world.
- position
- equitable
Power _____ are not bad in themselves. It depends on…
- differentials
- what one does with power
How do we change power relations?
- through careful and attentive interactions with others
- for the powerless: craft a version of themselves that resists the positioning of the powerful
- for the powerful: listen openly and be receptive to the critique of the harm being caused
4 goals of power-focused feminists:
- articulate moral critiques of actions and practices that perpetuate women’s (and other oppressed groups) subordination
- prescribe morally justifiable ways of resisting such actions and practices
- envision morally desirable alternatives for such actions and practices
- take women’s (and other oppressed groups) moral experience seriously, though not uncritically
How is oppression not single-tracked?
- we also have to include class, race, sexuality, nationality, age
- these form interlocking systems of oppression
- we must challenge these interlocking systems to achieve justice/equality
Moral principle for status feminists:
moral actions are those that challenge interlocking systems of oppression
Moral principle for AU:
act so as to maximize well-being/happiness
Moral principle for RU:
act according to a universal rule that would maximize society’s overall well-being/happiness
Moral principle for PU:
act so as to maximize satisfaction of true preferences/desires
Moral principle for contractualism:
in legit contractual situations, we owe it to others to act in ways they could not reasonably object to
Moral principle for deontology:
drive moral norms from categorical imperatives
Moral principle for agent centred deontology:
CI1 (universalizability) gives you negative perfect duties you must follow and imperfect ones your prerogatives allow flexibility in following
Moral principle for patient centred deontology:
CI2 generates rules by focusing on categorical right others have to be treated as an end not a means
Moral principle for virtue ethics:
use practical wisdom (to find the golden mean) to act in accordance with virtuous character to achieve eudaimonia
2 things virtue ethics needs:
- knowledge of virtues
- practical wisdom
- commitment to eudaimonia
2 streams of power focused ethics:
- societal/group
- individual
Societal/group power focused ethics:
- current oppression must be challenged first in order to have an ethical world
- future oppression must be avoided next
Individual power focused ethics:
- abuses of power must be challenged first for relationships to be healthy
- future abuses must be avoided next
Moral principle for status feminists:
moral actions are those that challenge interlocking systems of oppression and abuses of power
