The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings. –Albert Schweitzer
In 1984 (yes, gentle reader, there was actually a year, not only a book, 1984) I walked into a B. Dalton book store (yes, there was a B. Dalton book store, a national chain, a ‘big player,’ at one time they were the largest chain with more than 780 stores nationwide. B. Dalton’s was purchased in 1987 by Barnes & Noble). I wandered around the bookstore – this is one of things I still love to do, wander around large book stores – in Singapore there is one that is three stories tall, not the tallest I have ever been in though. But, I digress.
Back to B. Dalton’s. I was wandering around. I stopped. I took a step back and a title called to me: Pick me up! I did and my life was enriched as a result. The author was Nel Noddings and she continues to be a deep tap root that feeds my intellect, my heart and my soul. The book: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Nel introduced me to Feminine Ethics and Care Ethics. In 1982 I had immersed myself in Carol Gilligan’s ground-breaking work: In a Different Voice. There have been many others who followed these two ‘surveyors’. In 1987 the third person of this ‘trinity’ called to me in another bookstore. This was Virginia Held. Many view her as the person who stimulated the early research into the ‘Ethics of Care.’
Recently I was sitting with this triumvirate of powerful women; their books open, lying in front of me. I began to reflect and take some notes and then found myself putting finger to key. What emerged were some ‘Considerations’ with a focus on ‘Feminist Ethics.’ A few days ago I began to put some of my notes together into one document which I call: ‘CONSIDER: FEMINIST ETHICS’.
Beginning in the early 1980s, feminists (philosophers, clinical psychologists, and social psychologists) began to develop more fully what was deemed to be a morality of caring. As I noted above, Carol Gilligan was one of the seminal thinkers who claimed that, for the most part, women tended (still tend today?) to interpret moral problems differently from the way men tended (still tend today?) to interpret them. For women caring relationships are primary; for men, being moral is more apt to be described in terms of ‘individual compliance’ with ‘rational rules’ concerned mainly with ‘individual rights.’
Consider, that an ‘Ethic of Care’ recognizes that caring for children and dependent persons is a fundamental charge rooted in moral values. This ‘Ethic’ believes that persons are, by nature, interdependent rather than independent individuals (Think: No man is an island!). This ‘Ethic’ believes that morality must embrace issues of caring and empathy and interpersonal relationships rather than primarily focus on the ‘rational decisions’ of ‘solitary moral agents.’
The hardest times for me were not when people challenged what I said, but when I felt my voice was not heard. – Carol Gilligan
Searcher-Seeker 
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