Chapter 18 Summary

Held identifies the central features of the ethics of care and explains how these differentiate it from older varieties of moral theory. The ethics of care pays special attention to the reality of human dependence and stresses the responsibilities we have to the particular others who depend on us during part or the whole of their lives. Instead of rejecting emotion as an obstacle to correct reasoning about moral questions, the ethics of care sees it as an indispensable aid to implementing the dictates of morality and even to ascertaining what these dictates might be. Moreover, it calls into question the applicability of universal rules to all areas of moral life, arguing that actual relations can rightly take precedence over legalistic concerns for strict impartiality.

Held reflects on the meaning of care, a concept that still lacks a precise, agreed-upon definition in the literature on the ethics of care. She argues for an understanding of care as both a practice of responding to the needs of others and a value guiding our assessments of attitudes and actions.