Care Ethics Theory

According to care ethics, relationships are morally foundational. Basically, this means that when it comes to care ethics, it can be justified to devote more of your attention to those that are close to you, as opposed to those that you are not close with. But according to Kantian and Utilitarian ethics, all people are equally deserving of moral attention.

Care ethics is typically defined as a practice as opposed to a theory, and in this context “care” means maintaining not only our own needs- but the needs of others. Care ethics stresses the importance of caring motivation- feeling motivated to care for those who are more vulnerable and/or disadvantaged. These motivations have derived from our own memories of being cared for at some point in our life. This type of ethics is often contrasted with Kantian and Utilitarian ethics.
For example, many would argue that care ethics is a theory that valorizes the oppression of women, as women were typically seen as the caregivers. From that point of view, care ethics is reinforcing the values that are typically associated with women- and therefore enforcing gender roles. With that logic, the care ethics theory can be seen as anti-feminist. It appears that it may have emerged from patriarchal tradition- and ultimately leads to economic, social, and political disadvantage to the women who are expected to provide that care. Various concerns associated with care ethics can be addressed by other theories, therefore it is hard to justify it- as it has so many flaws. One concern with the theory of care ethics is that it is often labelled as ambiguous. It is labelled as ambiguous as it does not provide any concrete instructions or guidelines for