Virtue & Care Ethics Flashcards
What does virtue ethics emphasize?
Virtue ethics emphasizes the person who performs the moral action. Making the morally right choice contributes to good character and good life. It emphasizes an individual’s character. If they focus on being a good person, the right actions will follow.
How does virtue ethics judge actions?
In virtue ethics, the effects of acting are not key, but the aim is key: an act or practice is good when all abilities are committed to reach the aim inherent to that practice.
Comparing that to archery: An action is good when every ability is applied with the aim to have the arrow reach the target. The good is not the actual reaching of the target.
What does care ethics focus on?
Care ethics focuses on the practice, context, relationships and meaning by combining theoretical insights with in-depth research (it is not an “one maxim should fit all” ethics)
What is the Heinz dilemma of moral reasoning?
The Heinz dilemma of moral reasoning:
Should Heinz steal an overpriced drug to save his ill wife?
How would the Heinz dilemma be solved from the ethic of justice point of view?
From the ethic of justice point of view, the Heinz dilemma is seen as a math problem. The right to life > right to property. –> Heinz should steal the drugs
How would the Heinz dilemma be solved from the care ethics point of view?
From the care ethics point of view, Heinz shouldn’t steal the drugs, because then he could go to prison and be forced to leave his wife alone. They believe that the pharmacist will help Heinz if he explains the situation
What are the Utrecht care ethics?
- Base: what is good care, given the situation? –> lived experience - care practices - the socio-political order
- Theoretical and conceptual discussions from an interdisciplinary field of inquiry:
- Relationality
- Contextuality
- Affectivity
- Practices
- Vulnerability
- Bodiliness
- Power and position
- Meaning/sense
- Empirical methods:
- Phenomology
- Narrative analysis
- Discourse analysis
- Auto ethnography
- Institutional ethnography
- Visual data analysis
- Responsive evaluation
- Care is central, because it is the central feature of being. It is what makes us human.
What is care?
According to Fisher, Bernice and Tronto (1993) “Caring is a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue and repair our world so we can live in it as well as possible.”
What are the five phases of care according to Tronto?
The five phases of care according to Tronto:
- Caring about. This is about attentiveness. Care requires a recognition of the other’s needs in order to respond to it.
- Taking care of. This is about responsibility. Responsibility is not obligation here.
- Care giving. This is about competence. Without this, needs of care can’t be met.
- Care receiving. This is about responsiveness. What do the people receiving the care think about it? This part is often forgotten!
- Caring with. This is about trust and reconsideration of care. Conditions of trust can be created where reliance is developed. This is more about the society level.
Why are practices important?
(Moral) knowledge comes from practices. Practices show the distribution of responsibilities. Responsibilities=social construct
What is morality according to Walker?
Morality according to Walker (2007) is a collaborative effort in which we jointly reproduce/shift our moral understandings and countless of daily interactions
What is the expressive-collaborative model?
Expressive-collaborative model (Walker, 2007):
• Expressive: practices (actions and statements) show what is of value to people by
assigning, accepting or ignoring responsibilities
• Collaborative: practices show that moral knowledge is fundamentally interpersonal: we
construct and perpetuate it together
People can talk about things and values they find important, but it is more valuable to observe how people behave –> Actions express what we value
What is contextuality?
Contextuality: every situation is different. Context should always be considered in order to understand the whole picture. Situationed, historical and societal context are all important.
What is relationality?
- Relationships as ontologically basic to humanity, where identity is defined by the set of relationships individuals have with other humans (Noddings, 1984)
- Individualistic autonomy vs relational autonomy
“morality is the process by which people collaboratively weave an extraordinarily intricate web of moral understandings for themselves and others” (Walker, 2007)
Relationality also focuses on relationships people have.
What are the two different forms of relationality?
Individual-based equality:
-Because you are an individual
-Moral questions:
*What rights do I have compared to others thanks
to my “equal” status?
*What rights do all other individuals with the same
status have?
Connection-based equality
- Because someone else has been mothering for you
- Moral questions:
- What are my responsibilities compared to others with whom I have specific relationships?
- What are the responsibilities of others towards me so that I am taken care of when I take care of others?
What is individual autonomy?
Individual autonomy: based on freedom of taking your own decisions regarding your own life.
What is relational autonomy?
Relational autonomy doesn’t focus on individuals, but on social & societal view of mankind. Who we are is determined by our relationship with others. Autonomy and dependence are not opposites here.
What is individual-based equality?
Individual-based equality is focused on the rights you have as an individual
What is connection-based equality?
Connection-based equality is that you have responsibilities and others have responsibilities towards you
What is the paradox with freedom and autonomy?
The paradox is that we are more free, but autonomy has been reduced to having to make (the right) choices (Vosman & Niemeijer, 2017)
What did Eva Kittay say about independence?
Eva Feder Kittay states that independence
is a ‘harmful fiction’. People who care for others are dependent themselves as they have a derivative form of dependence. Aren’t we all derivatively dependent, even when we are healthy/able/have agency?
What does quality mean?
c.1300, “temperament, character, disposition,” Latin qualitatem (nominative qualitas) “a quality, property, nature, state, condition”
Changed to a “degree of goodness“ end of 14th
century
Quality as a measuring point mate van/meetpunt
• Wollersheim et al. (2011): ‘kwaliteit is een
graduele omschrijving van iets anders
(meer/minder)’
• No actual definition (!!)
‘Aspects’ or ‘dimensions’ of quality of
care/education/life
What is the quality discourse?
- Quality discourse exists with the idea that
things should always be improved (‘zorg kan
altijd beter’ – CZ slogan) - Doesn’t quality thinking automatically
make a diagnosis of shortcomings?
‘Defizitdiagnose der Suboptimalität’
(Baecker, 2011)
What is the problem with all the different theories?
- Do (ethical) principles or theories truly express the complexity of lived experience?
- Many (care) situations where people interact with each other do not always show clear moral dilemmas
- Not reducible to ‘Either/Or’ choices
- They can still be full of (small) normativity
What is an important insight of care ethics?
Important insight of care ethics: There is also a passive side to experience. Understanding >explaining
What are problems with dignity in moral discussions?
- Susan Sontag: metaphors can be dehumanizing
- Cees Hertogh: we project vulnerability upon certain groups
- Is public outrage due to differing imaginaries?
