Ethics of Care: Critical Assessment

Philosopher David Hume believed that a universal feeling grounded in morality exists in everyday life, for feminist philosopher Nell Noddings, that feeling is care. In “Caring” written in 1984, Noddings utilizes the act of care as a unique tool for understanding morality. Although Noddings’ work provided groundbreaking insights into both feminist philosophy and ethics there are a number of discrepancies outlined by Sarah Hoagland persist. In this essay I will first discuss Noddings’ ethics of care by methodically breaking down the role of the carer and the cared for. Second, I will discuss the apparent strengths of the theory when aligned with virtue ethics. Third, I will outline the poignant weaknesses of Noddings’ ethics as argued by Hoagland in order to critically assess both its central contradictions and larger implications for society. Finally I will conclude with my personal analysis of the theory to assert that the ethics of care is a necessary, yet insufficient theory on the importance of care within morality.