Caring

by Noddings, Nel

• ISBN13: 9780520238640
• ISBN10: 0520238648
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

What is at the basis of moral action? An altruism acquired by the application of rule and principle? Or, as Noddings asserts, caring and the memory of being cared for? With numerous examples to supplement her rich theoretical discussion, Noddings builds a compelling philosophical argument for an ethics based on natural caring, as in the care of a mother for her child. The ethical behavior that grows out of natural caring, and has as its core care-filled receptivity to those involved in any moral situation, leaves behind the rigidity of rule and principle to focus on what is particular and unique in human relations. Noddings's discussion is wide-ranging, as she considers whether organizations, which operate at a remove from the caring relationship, can truly be called ethical. She discusses the extent to which we may truly care for plants, animals, or ideas. Finally, she proposes a realignment of education to encourage and reward not just rationality and trained intelligence, but also enhanced sensitivity in moral matters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Preface to the Second Edition	xiii
Introduction	1	(6)
Why Care About Caring?	7	(23)
The fundamental nature of caring	7	(2)
What does it mean to care?	9	(7)
Problems arising in the analysis of one-caring	16	(3)
The cared-for	19	(2)
Aesthetical caring	21	(2)
Caring and acting	23	(3)
Ethics and caring	26	(4)
The One-Caring	30	(29)
Receiving	30	(5)
Thinking and feeling: turning points	35	(2)
Guilt and courage	37	(3)
Women and caring	40	(6)
Circles and chains	46	(2)
Asymmetry and reciprocity in caring	48	(1)
The ethical ideal and the ethical self	49	(2)
Rules and conflicts	51	(8)
The Cared-For	59	(20)
The one-caring's attitude and its effects	59	(6)
Apprehension of caring necessary to the caring relationship; unequal meetings	65	(4)
Reciprocity	69	(5)
The ethics of being cared for	74	(5)
An Ethic of Caring	79	(25)
From natural to ethical caring	79	(2)
Obligation	81	(9)
Right and wrong	90	(4)
The problem of justification	94	(1)
Women and morality: virtue	95	(3)
The toughness of caring	98	(6)
Construction of the ideal	104	(28)
The nature of the ideal	104	(4)
Constraints and attainability	108	(5)
Diminished ethical capacity	113	(7)
Nurturing the ideal	120	(4)
Maintaining the ideal	124	(8)
Enhancing the Ideal: Joy	132	(16)
Our basic reality and affect	132	(3)
How should we describe emotion?	135	(1)
Perception and emotion: the object of emotion and its appraisal	136	(6)
Emotions as reasons	142	(1)
Joy as exalted	143	(1)
Receptivity and joy in intellectual work	144	(3)
Joy as basic affect	147	(1)
Caring for Animals, Plants, Things and Ideas	148	(23)
Our relation with animals	148	(11)
Our relation to plants	159	(2)
Things and ideas	161	(8)
Summary	169	(2)
Moral Education	171	(32)
What is moral education?	171	(4)
The one-caring as teacher	175	(7)
Dialogue	182	(5)
Practice	187	(6)
Confirmation	193	(4)
Organizing schools for caring	197	(6)
Notes	203	(10)
Select Bibliography	213	(4)
Index	217