Carol Gilligan's Theory Of Care Ethics

In health and social care, four key Ethical Principles that are taken into account during these settings. Which are:

Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, identified six developmental stages of human moral reasoning. The first stage that he recognized was the Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where the person’s concern is for avoiding punishment through obedience. The second stage was the Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where the person’s concern is to work in their self interest, and better their position. The third stage of moral development was the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where the person’s concern lies with their reputation. Next was the Law And Order Orientation, where the person was less concerned with their own immediate well being to the maintenance of a larger society. The fifth stage was the Social Contract

Therefore, division of moral labor creates a different structure of moral thought in males and females and the cultural expectation of men and women to “exhibit moral dichotomy” (p.96) gives rise to different primary moral commitments in both genders. Due to this, Friedman argues that men are more inclined towards the moral commitment of rules and principles and females are inclined towards moral commitments of responsiveness and care. Friedman’s views about the origin of moral dichotomy resonate with Weeks.

Carol Gilligan believes that there are vast differences between genders. Males are individuals who want to see justice be converted into instant gratification. They can be described by the following terms: logical, right and wrong, rule-based, less caring, present focused, strict rules, black and white, independent, rigid or commanding. Females are individuals who see caring for other people as important. They can be depicted by the following terms: reasonable, emotional, compassionate, more caring, rationalizing, future focused, shades of gray, dependent, people oriented, or having difficulty in decision-making. These terms, of course, do not express the characteristics of every man or woman.

I infer several conclusions from Smith’s definition and analysis of sympathy. First, sympathy is a mode of perception. The “eye of the mind” or the imagination perceives the situation witch elicits primary sentiments and secondary agreeable or disagreeable sentiments which are the basis of moral judgement. Secondly, I conclude from Smith’s propositions that the mind is a passive recipient, therefore moral knowledge is a by-product of external stimuli. In other words our external sense stimuli provoke a change in our minds, from which our imaginations produce sentiments by which we judge the propriety or merit of another’s conduct.

Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his theory of moral development developed in 1958. His theory was dependent on the thinking of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and American philosopher John Dewey. It consists of three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. These levels are based on the degree to which an individual accommodates to the conventional standards of society. Each level aquires two stages that serve as different standards of sophistication in moral reasoning. Overall, Kohlberg affirms that moral development is a process of maturing that emerges from thinking about about moral issues (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”).

It's the way in which they show caring that may differ from what we expect, and often see, from women. “We all develop our personal thoughts about caring”, says O'Lynn, “and if what we see doesn't fit the mold, then we don't recognize it as caring (Stokowski p.4).”

Justice is the concept of moral rightness based on others behavior and actions. Justice is about making the truth visible, and sometimes even taking legal action. In the olden days justice was not as controlled or as proficient as it is now in today's day and age. There were a variety of justice and injustice represented in the story’s, Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut, The Minister’s Black Veil by Hawthorne and Thank You Ma’am by Hughes.

Perinatal loss can be one of the most traumatic and painful experience a mother and family can go through. The aim of this paper is to explore Swanson’s Middle Range caring theory and its application in family centered care when dealing with clients experiencing a perinatal loss.

The term justice is used in some of America's most treasured and valued documents, from the Pledge of Allegiance, to the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Everyone wants to be treated justly whether it's in the courtroom or the local bar. Most people would feel confident giving a definition for justice, but would it be a definition we could universally agree to? Given that justice is a very common term, and something we all want, it's important to have a precise definition. For hundreds of years philosophers have argued, debated, and fought over this topic. Justice can clearly be defined as the intention to conform to truth and fairness. This is true justice.

Annette Bair and Marilyn Friedman have opposing views on whether women have distinct moral perspectives. Like Friedman, I believe that women have no different moral perspectives than men. Some people, like Bair, think that women base their moral perspectives on merely trust and love and men base theirs on justice. Friedman points out that care and justice coincide . People use justice to decide what is appropriate in caring relationships and care is brought into account when determining what is just. Since these two moral perspectives correspond, gender does not distinguish different moral perspectives.

While ethics theories often focus on justice, care, an "equally valid moral perspective," is usually disregarded because of male bias. The two perspectives are often pleasant-sounding, but a need for care point of view precedence exists. While truth is evident in both these statements, the problem of distinguishing between them becomes apparent soon after. Many feminist look to psychologist Carol Gilligan's research for evidence to confirm the difference between characteristically male and female approaches to moral decision making. Her research illustrated how men almost unfailingly focus on justice when making moral decisions and women use justice and care in equal proportions in their moral judgments. While men and women take different

This is illustrating how the concept of justice is continually evolving based upon changing social norms and values. To fully understand what is taking place requires focusing on moral justice and how it is influencing society. This will be accomplished by studying one of the selections from the justice section in the book World of Ideas. Together, these elements will provide

Care Ethics (Feminist Ethics) is the importance of caring relationships in life whether its human or animal related. The main goal of care ethics is to maintain and promote caring relationships. Care ethics involves helping both yourself and the world around you. It gives you the motivation to care for others beside yourself. Care ethics according to the article is more a “general approach” than a theory in regards to other ethical practices. The goal of care ethics is to show that women have the same equal rights as men and that they both have freedoms of their own. This is important as this is helping to address equality among the human race. Care ethics as a whole revolves around emotions.

The theory of moral development, advanced by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg is one of the most well-known persuasive theories in the field of cognitive science and stems from the work of Jean Piaget, which hypothesizes on the direct correlation that exists between moral and cognitive development. Kohlberg speaks of the appearance and understanding of what is right and wrong from childhood to adulthood and explains by this transition through the identification of various levels of morality known as pre-conventional, conventional and post conventional. People will make decisions based on the understanding of the possible outcome and through reasoning of morals. (Target Concept)