A Better Model

I would just like to reinforce the notion that morality should be re-analyzed, via Alcoff, and care ethics contributes in a way that not only contextualizes morality instead of the usual assumption that it arises a priori and is universal, but it also seems more natural given the model of a mother and child. Since the ethical is very relative to politics, the connection seems natural. As gathered through Gilligan’s article, the female has been stifled since because they were not seen as being able to assimilate to the disinterested universals, which should be questioned in the first place. Care ethics seems much more true to how morality actually plays out, and care ethics I believe does not have to be diametrically opposed to Kohlberg’s sense of morality. Once again this is where Alcoff can have influence, as the conditions under which care ethics have arised must be analyzed and merit their own genealogy, and hopefully this will clear up that care ethics could arise more out of natural feelings instead of just the conditions of oppression that females have suffered. If a biological link where to be established, I think the justice model might suffer, but it seems that one can always make the argument that humans have rationality and therefore it should trump base feelings, as that is what supposedly separates us from the animals. Care ethics admits to the interested nature in which we care, as it often occurs in a manner that favors others instead of giving everyone the same moral consideration. While this may be harsh in some cases, it most certainly mirrors my actual experiences of morality, as I have an order of those I care about or are willing to devote more attention to. Kohlberg wants to articulate the typically male notion of the universals as the highest form of ethical reasoning, but it fails to take into account that in practice it is based on relationships as care ethics will point out. Objective morality would be a nice thing, but from constant reminders by feminist philosophers, we know that the completely objective viewpoint might be absurd and would be better off abandoned. Surely everyone would probably prefer that a complete stranger hold him/her in the same regard as a close family member or friend, but this is often not the case in experience, and I am glad care ethics takes this into account.