UW-Rock County
Ethics
Feminist Ethics
Virginia Held
Stephen E. Schmid
1
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Different Approaches to Ethics
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Two different responses by two adults to the question, “What
does morality mean to you?”
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Response A: “I think it is recognizing the right of the individual, the rights of other
individuals, not interfering with those rights. Act as fairly as you would have them
treat you. I think it is basically to preserve the human being’s right to existence. I
think that is the most important. Secondly, the human being’s right to do as he pleases,
again without interfering with somebody else’s rights.”
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Response B: “We need to depend on each other, and hopefully it is not only a physical
need but a need of fulfillment in ourselves, that a person’s life is enriched by
cooperating with other people and striving to live in harmony with everybody else, and
to that end, there are right and wrong, there are things which promote that end and that
move away from it, and that way it is possible to choose in certain cases among
different courses of action that obviously promote or harm that goal.”
Stephen E. Schmid
2
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Considerations in Ethical Problem Solving
A: i) using logic and reason to find a solution; ii) being aware of
and concerned about the rights of those affected by one’s actions;
iii) making sure one doesn’t interfere with another’s rights; iv)
treating everyone equally; v) following the principles of justice,
impartiality, and fairness; vi) making sure one’s actions can be
defended in terms or rules that are universal and apply to all
B: i) bringing love, care, and compassion to the situation; ii) being
aware of and concerned about people’s needs; iii) looking for ways
that one can help people; iv) trying to arrive at a solution that
everyone could accept; v) trying to connect with the people
involved and working to create communication and cooperation;
vi) being attentive to relationships and one’s responsibilities to
other people
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
3
Ethics
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
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Kohlberg broke moral development into six stages:
1. Punishment and Reward Stage: children are motived to obey authority and avoid
punishment
2. Individual Instrumental Purpose and Exchange Stage: children do what meets their
needs and occasionally the needs of others
3. Mutual Expectations and Conformity Stage: adolescents conform to social
standards to gain others’ approval
4. Social System and Conscience Maintenance Stage: mature adolescents do their
duty to show respect for authority and maintain the social order
5. Social Contract/Utility Stage: people follow rules they perceive as rational and
serving the public good
6. Universal Ethical Principles Stage: people act on universal principles of justice,
reciprocity and respect for others
Stephen E. Schmid
4
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Kohlberg and Gilligan’s Problem
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In his research into how and why people think differently in
different stages of development, Kohlberg noticed that women
and girls seldom developed past stage 3 whereas men and boys
often progressed to stages 5 and 6
•
Kohlberg’s research is not only interested in how people think
differently, but also in ranking the best ways of thinking about
morality
•
Gilligan doubts the higher stages really are better ways of
thinking about morality
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
5
Ethics
Gilligan’s Two Models of Ethical Reasoning
•
Gilligan argues there are two models of ethical reasoning
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“Ethics of justice:” rules, rights and logic predominate moral
reasoning
•
“Ethics of care:” relationships, responsibilities, and emotions
predominate moral reasoning
Stephen E. Schmid
6
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Held’s Man of Reason
•
Whatever the conception of the “man of reason” through
different historical periods, what is common to each conception
is the juxtaposition of the “man of reason” with its opposite, the
characteristics of the feminine
•
Rationality is that characteristic of man which transcends
feminine emotion
•
Reason controls emotion
•
Reason guides the individual through storms of emotion
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Reason makes one responsible and passion is irresponsible
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Reason serves male endeavors and emotion displays female weaknesses
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Reason conquers Unreason
Stephen E. Schmid
7
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Public and Private Distinction
•
•
In the public realm, man leaves his animal nature and creates
history
•
He creates governments and laws and risks his life to protect
society
•
•
•
Morality guides behavior in the public realm
What is distinctly human occurs in the public domain
In the private, “household,” realm, women “reproduce” life and
serve the “natural” needs of men (e.g., food, shelter, biological
aspects)
Stephen E. Schmid
8
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Private Realm Not Part of Morality
•
Heyd: dismisses a mother’s sacrifice for her child when
considering supererogatory acts
•
A mother’s sacrifice results from a “natural relationship” and
“instinctive feelings” and these feelings “lie outside morality”
•
Ryan: when arguing against economic theories which assume
that man is rational and self-interested he fails to consider
motherhood as a counter-example to self-interested behavior
•
In both cases, motherhood is discounted or ignored and is
thought to be outside the realm of morality
•
•
Motherhood is a biological activity
No moral theory has considered motherhood as providing
moral insight
Stephen E. Schmid
9
UW-Rock County
Ethics
An Interpretation of Hobbes
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Man in the state of nature springs from the soil a fully formed
egoistic individual
•
•
“consider men as if but even now spring out of the earth, and
suddenly, like mushrooms, come to full maturity, without all
kind of engagement with each other” The Citizen
Hobbes’s skips over human reproduction and early nurturing in
conceptualizing the rational man at the center of his social
contract
Stephen E. Schmid
10
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Other Views of Women
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Rousseau: women must be trained to submit to the will of men or
else women’s sexual power will lead both to disaster
•
Kant: women cannot achieve full moral personhood and lose
their charm if they try to be rational like men
•
Hegel: women’s concern for their families is a threat to the
universal moral and social goals to which men should aspire
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
11
Ethics
Gender-biased Reason Permeates Morality
•
The association of reason with scientific knowledge and moral
knowledge has made the pursuit of morality itself a male
endeavor, guided by reason and rational principles
•
1. If ethics had been a search for universal human principles, then
it would have incorporated concepts that were indifferent to gender
and gender-based associations (or at least have incorporated these
gender-biased concepts in equal measure).
2. But, the concepts of morality and knowledge are gender-biased
(and not employed in equal measure).
3. So, ethics has not been a search for universal, human principles.
Stephen E. Schmid
12
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Why Has Moral Philosophy Overlooked
Trust Between Humans?
•
Baier thinks that trust between human is the central aspect of
moral life
•
She thinks moral philosophy overlooks trust because
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“the great moral theorists in our tradition not only are all men,
they are mostly men who had minimal adult dealings with
(and so were then minimally influenced by) women”
•
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these men were “clerics, misogynists, and puritan bachelors”
who focused on and wrote about “distanced relations between
more or less free and equal adult strangers”
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
13
Ethics
How Is Moral Theory to Correct Itself?
•
Held argues that for moral theory to correct itself will require
complete transformation
•
If moral theory were to just incorporate the missing gender into
rational ethical principles, then ethics would still be without
•
•
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the moral promptings of the heart
a voice from the household
a view concerned with the nurturance of children and the
cultivation of social relations
Stephen E. Schmid
14
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Is There a Unitary Feminist Ethics?
•
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There is no unitary feminist ethics
Three themes of bias which the various approaches to feminist
ethics addresses
I. Reason and Emotion
II. The Public and the Private
III. The Concept of the Self
Stephen E. Schmid
15
UW-Rock County
Ethics
I. Reason and Emotion
•
Two reason-based approaches to ethics
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Kant: the search for general, abstract, universal moral principles which are to guide
rational beings
•
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Mill: utilitarianism demands a rational choice in selecting the course of action
which maximizes the satisfaction of desires and interests
•
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The categorical imperative is that rational principle which commands us to act
in a certain way and is independent of emotions and desires
The utilitarian calculation provides a rational process for determining moral
decisions
Both reason-based approaches rely on abstract, universal principles as
the source of moral guidance
Stephen E. Schmid
16
UW-Rock County
Ethics
A Universal Moral Theory Requires
Equal Consideration
•
If there is to be a universal moral theory, then it must given equal
consideration to women’s experiences and concerns as well as
men’s
•
What are women’s moral concerns?
•
•
Women’s moral concerns arise in actual relationships
Women’s moral concerns include moral emotions
Stephen E. Schmid
17
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Gilligan on Women’s Concerns
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Gilligan and other psychologists suggest that women are more
concerned with preserving actual relationships and expressing
care toward those for whom they feel responsible
•
“Ethics of care” is the name given to women’s natural moral
orientation
•
Women’s natural moral orientation is to care for others in a
personal way
•
Women have an overriding concern for relationships and
responsibilities to those for whom they care
Stephen E. Schmid
18
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Why Think Women Have a Different Style of
Moral Thinking?, I
•
Women might think differently due to social conditioning
•
Ethics of care could be the result of the social conditioning of
women; women merely adopt the values of the roles they
inhabit
•
Held warns against this view: feminists consider their own
experiences as reflecting an ethics of care and not simply
social conditioning
Stephen E. Schmid
19
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Why Think Women Have a Different Style of
Moral Thinking?, II
•
Women might think differently due to some intrinsic feature
•
•
Evolutionary psychology provides a possible answer to why women are
intrinsically caring
•
From a reproductive standpoint, the main difference between men and women
is that men can father hundreds of children during their reproductive lifetimes
and women can mother far fewer because of the prolonged gestation period
•
Thus, the reproductive strategies of men and women will differ
•
Men will want to impregnate as many females as possible investing only
the resources necessary to keep the maximum number of offspring alive
•
Women will want to invest more time and energy into each child and find
mates who will make the same investment to their offspring
These different reproductive interests might explain why women
intrinsically have an ethics of care
Stephen E. Schmid
20
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Ethics of Care Makes Room for Emotions
1. Ethics of Care thinks morality requires development of moral emotions
•
Moral emotions contrast with moral reasons
•
Instead of rational control of the emotions, ethics of care endorses the cultivation of
desirable emotions
2. Emotions are weighed in moral understanding
•
One cannot understand caring relationships in terms of abstract rules or by rational
calculation
•
Emotions are seen as a partial means of understanding morality
3. Morality Demands Trust
•
Acting to develop and maintain trusting relationships is different than acting
according to rational principles
Stephen E. Schmid
21
UW-Rock County
Ethics
II. The Public and The Private
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Gender bias has distorted the conceptions of the public and private
realms
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Feminists object to the idea that what occurs in the household is
beyond politics
•
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The private realm is affected by politics, from abortion to unequal earning power to
lack of social protection for women against domestic violence
Feminists object to the characterizations of what is “natural” in the
public and private realms
•
What is “natural” for women is mothering activity which is private and a common
biological activity
•
What is “natural” for men is political activity which is public, and to the extent the
political activity requires rationality it become a specifically human activity
Stephen E. Schmid
22
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Human Mothering Forms Social Morality
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Held objects to the notion that human mothering is no different
than mothering by other animals
•
Human mothering contributes to and develops the characteristics
which are thought to be distinctly human
•
•
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Human mothering shapes language and culture
•
Human mothering is no more “natural” than any other human
activity
It forms social personhood and develops morality
Raising and shaping new humans is a creative activity no
different from developing new products
Stephen E. Schmid
23
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Motherhood and the Creative Spirit
•
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Creative spirit is not limited to the public realm
“The activity of creating new social persons and new kinds of
persons is potentially the most transformative human activity of
all. And it suggests that morality should concern itself first of all
with this activity, with what its norms and practices ought to be,
and with how the institutions and arrangements throughout
society and the world ought to be structured to facilitate the right
kinds of development of the best kinds of new persons.”
Stephen E. Schmid
24
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Argument for Morality of Motherhood
1. Morality ought to concern itself with that activity which
contributes the most to the moral, social, political, economic and
legal realms.
2. Motherhood, the most transformative human activity of all, is
the activity of creating and nurturing new social persons and, as
such, contributes the most to the moral, social, political, economic
and legal realms.
3. Therefore, morality ought to concern itself with motherhood.
•
•
Advantage of focusing on the development of the social person
is that it shifts the focus on human relations away from the
impersonal, public domain and toward private relationships that
stress shared common interests
Stephen E. Schmid
25
UW-Rock County
Ethics
III. The Concept of Self
•
In traditional approaches to ethics, the concept of the self is
usually understood as the egoistic self in contrast to the
universal, or others in general
•
“In seeing the problems of ethics as problems of reconciling the
interests of the self with what would be right or best for
‘everyone,’ standard ethics has neglected the moral aspects of the
concern and sympathy which people actually feel for particular
others, and what moral experience in this intermediate realm
suggests for an adequate morality.”
Stephen E. Schmid
26
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Domain of Particular Others
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The concept of an isolated, individual self is mistaken
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In pursuing our own interests we have ties to others and these
ties are part of our self-identity
In the domain of “particular others,” the self is constituted and
evaluated in relation to others
•
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For example, it is difficult to understand how one might break
down the mother-child relationship into individual gains and
losses for each member; what has moral value in a motherchild relationship is different than and not comparable to a
universal, egalitarian ethic
Feminist ethic is necessary to examine and understand this
aspect of morality
Stephen E. Schmid
27
UW-Rock County
Ethics
The Relational Self
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The relational self stands in contrast to the self-sufficient
individual of traditional ethical theories
•
Studies into the feminist conception of the relational self
observes that the self has
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a need for recognition,
a need to understand the other, and
both these needs are compatible
Stephen E. Schmid
28
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Goal of Mutuality
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The feminist conception of the relational self has a goal of mutuality
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The mother-child relationship creates a mutually empathetic
relationship
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Goal of mutuality is rarely achieved in adult relationships due to
gender differences
•
Men seek autonomy and power over others and undervalue the
caring relations of women
•
Psychologists look to mother-daughter relationships as examples of the
relational self and goal of mutuality
•
The best example of autonomy is not property (hiding the self behind
property) but child-rearing, where “interdependence is a constant
component of autonomy”
Stephen E. Schmid
29
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Held’s Three Themes
•
•
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Held’s three themes do apply to many feminist ethical theories
In particular they apply to “Care-focused” ethics
But, there are “Power-focused” feminist ethics which emphasize
other features
Stephen E. Schmid
30
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Power-focused Feminist Ethics
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Power-focused feminist ethic thinks ethical questions cannot be
addressed independently from questions about the power structures
and the patterns of dominance and oppression that exist in society
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According to Jaggar, the goal of power-focused feminist ethics is to
a) “articulate moral critiques of actions and practices that perpetuate
women’s subordination”
b) “to prescribe morally justifiable ways of resisting such actions and
practices”
c) and, “to envision morally desirable alternatives that will promote women’s
emancipation”
•
The caring self should care for herself as well as others and seek the
freedom that will make this possible
Stephen E. Schmid
31
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Power-focused Feminist Ethics
Criticisms of Ethics of Care
1. Ethics of care’s emphasis on the family appeals to the very oppressive
structures which a feminist ethics is trying to overcome
•
By appealing to these oppressive structures, ethics of care reinforces women’s
secondary status
•
The “care” perspective arose from oppressive conditions and may not reflect
genuine morality
2. Ethics of care offers an inappropriate description of female identity
•
Why think women are or should be sacrificially altruistic? Isn’t one who is
excessively altruistic too easily exploited?
3. Ethics of care’s emphasis on family relationships is inadequate for
public and political morality
•
Mother-child relationship is one of unequal power and control
•
The ideal political sphere is one of equality
Stephen E. Schmid
32
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Can Feminist Ethics Avoid Abstract
Universal Principles?
•
Feminist ethics criticizes ethical theories based on abstract,
universal principles
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But, can Feminist ethics avoid these universal principles?
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If these principles of caring are to serve as moral guidelines, then
why can’t or aren’t they universal principles?
Isn’t it the case that Feminist ethics says that everyone should be
caring, compassionate, and concerned with the needs of others?
Stephen E. Schmid
33
UW-Rock County
Ethics
Loyal, Dependable, Caring
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•
What does it mean to be loyal, dependable, caring, etc.?
•
Virtue Theory sees morality and being moral as essentially
connected with having certain traits of character
•
These traits of character are suited to both the public and private
realms
In exhibiting these characteristics, isn’t one being a certain kind
of person?
•
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The public realm requires traits of justice and beneficence
The private realm requires traits of love and caring
Should we view the Ethics of Care as a kind of Virtue Ethics?
Stephen E. Schmid
34