Gender and Philosophy
Feminist Ethics of Care Lawrence Kohlberg (the late Harvard psychologist) used experiments and trial tests to come to the conclusion that people usually mature in ‘stages’ (Feminist Ethics of Care [FEC] pg85). The stages 3-6 can be explained in brief terms such as: Stage 3: you’ve outgrown the thought process of where you believe being good means helping and making others happy. Stage 4: you’ve come to the supposition that morality consists of a set of rules for maintaining the social order. Stage 5: believing in the concept “the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Stage 6: to think of morality in terms of self-chosen universal principals of justice. This is the highest level of maturity (FEC pg85). Kohlberg maid this claim, another very popular one was by Carol Gilligan, another Harvard psychologist who made the statement that girls had a “different voice” when it came to conducting her own tests on the same type of studies. She found her female subjects of her case study to think about relationships and connection. They weren’t focused entirely on abstract reasoning but were more circumstantial and concrete. With her study of an eleven year old boy, he said for human life to be worth more than the money that the drug was costing the German man for his very ill wife. He made the reasoning that it was okay to steal the drug, because the money wasn’t as important as his love’s life. The young girl of the same age that she tested on was the complete difference of the above subject. She made the point that if the German man had stolen the drug and saved his wife, he would be in jail and wouldn’t be able to stay with her and support her if they needed more money if she became sick again. The eleven year old girl found the importance of the relationship and connection to be more important than the boy’s “freeze frame” way of thinking of the situation (FEC pg87). As a girl myself I wouldn’t agree with the younger girl. I know that if I were in the situation, I would do anything to help my ill loved one (even to the point of stealing) rather than deal with the process of loans, borrowing, and negotiating with the pharmacist who was in supply of the drug. I strongly agree with the young boy who puts the value of human life over monetary value. Gilligan does not agree with Kohlberg’s way of thinking when it comes to moral maturity pertaining to females. She believes that there is a difference between moral orientation. While the boy is classified as a stage 4 on the scale, the girl is only at a stage 3, she does not think this is a fitting response. The boy is more orientated towards ‘justice’ (not agreeing that the pharmacist should charge this man the same amount that he would charge someone of a higher class when it comes to money for the drug that could most likely save his wife). The little girl is mainly focused on the ‘care’ aspect of the situation (the man could be persecuted and he wouldn’t be able to come up with more money if his wife were to become sick once again and need more of the drug). Gilligan does not agree with Kohlberg’s findings as he studied only males whose development he focused on for a time span of twenty years. He did not include females in his studies, and if he had he may have found that men and women are very different on the maturity scale, so it isn’t fair to throw girls into a classification that has only been based on the studies of boys and men. Moving onto Lindemann’s studies of mothers, he found that the main duty of a mother is to raise a child and bring about its overall wellbeing. But this is a very broad ‘job’ that can be broken down into three separate responsibilities. The first (and what can be argued as the most important) duty is the child’s protection. (The Point of Mothering [POM] pg 90). In this responsibly, the mother’s best interest is keeping her child(ren) same from harm. Protection such as teaching a child how to cross the street, interact with strangers in a safe way, steer clear of dangerous animals, and other skills that will help them throughout their childhood and entire life. The second responsibility is to nurture the child. If children are in need of protection, they also need to grow and flourish. In this duty, the mother must supply clothing, food, a stable home condition and environment. These are the material necessities of nurturance, but for the emotional, the mother must supply love, trust, respect, and comfort .The child is raised to develop spiritually, mentally, and physically. (POM pg90). For example, a mother is in need of concrete thinking in ways of the needs of this specific child. The third responsibility is in training, such as teaching the child discipline, potty training, honesty, respect, how to share, how to interact in society, and so on. (POM pg 91) In my own opinion, I think this is a very important step in mothering to get done before pre-school and kindergarten, so that her child can be normal among his or her peers when he or she is around other people. In regards to the ethics of care, there are three general features. The first being is it displays and is a manifestation of a caring relationship. (General Features of Care [GFC] pg 92) When someone is in your care, you need to care about this certain person. If you don’t feel any love or respect to your subject, you could become impersonal, cold, and not offer them what they need from you. The second is that a caring relationship requires engagement with another’s will. (GFC pg 93) The third requires the caregiver to consider the essentials rather than be guided by nonfigurative thoughts. Lindemann gave us an example of a certain person caring for nursing home patients plagued with Alzheimer’s disease. If they were acting out one of their delusions, the caregiver has to make the choice if it’s a harmless or harmful thing to engage in, and if he or she should “bring” the patient back to reality. (GFC pg 94) There are quite a few ‘problems’ when it comes to thinking critically about the ethics of care, but the one that I find to be the most ‘important’ would be the problem of exploitation. When you’re putting so much time and energy into caring for someone or something, those around you could be taking you for granted and ‘exploit’ your generous ways of helping. People that should also have responsibility in the caregiving could think that since you (the caregiver) and doing such a ‘wonderful job’ that they wouldn’t want to intrude. This is exploitation because they are using you to take on responsibilities that they could be engaging in themselves. (GFC pg 95) I find this to be a compelling theory because it is absolutely correct. Of course the ethics of care have good intentions, but there are quite a few problems associated in it that could hurt the very person that is in the care, or even the caregiver.