Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education

251 Pages·2013·52.46 MB·English

by  Nel Noddings

'CARI(j )

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RelationalApproach toE thics
Moral Education
SECOND EDITION, UPDATED
V N E L N O D D I N G S b
93
U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A L I F O R N I A P R E S S
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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© 1984, 2003, 2013 by The Regents of the University of California
ISBN 978-0-520-27570-6
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To my husband, Jim, who has
never stopped caring.

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
PREFACE TO THE 2013 EDITION xiii
PREFACE TO THE 2003 EDITION XXI
INTRODUCTION
1. WHY CARE ABOUT CARING? 7
The fundamental nature of caring 7
What does it mean to care? 9
Problems arising in the analysis of one-caring 16
The cared-for 19
Aesthetical caring 21
Caring and acting 23
Ethics and caring 26
2. THE ONE-CARING 30
Receiving 30
Thinking and feeling: turning points 35
Guilt and courage 37
Women and caring 40
Circles and chains 46
Asymmetry and reciprocity in caring 48
The ethical ideal and the ethical self 49
Rules and conflicts 51
3. THE CARED-FOR 59
The one-caring's attitude and its effects 59
Apprehension of caring necessary to the caring
relationship; unequal meetings 65
Reciprocity 69
The ethics of being cared for 74
vii
viii CONTENTS
4. AN ETHIC OF CARING 79
From natural to ethical caring 79
Obligation 81
Right and wrong 90
The problem of justification 94
Women and morality: virtue 95
The toughness of caring 98
5. CONSTRUCTION OF THE IDEAL 104
The nature of the ideal 104
Constraints and attainability 108
Diminished ethical capacity 113
Nurturing the ideal 120
Maintaining the ideal 124
6. ENHANCING THE IDEAL: JOY 132
Our basic reality and affect 132
How should we describe emotion? 135
Perception and emotion: the object of emotion
and its appraisal 136
Emotions as reasons 142
Joy as exalted 143
Receptivity and joy in intellectual work 144
Joy as basic affect 147
7. CARING FOR ANIMALS, PLANTS, THINGS
AND IDEAS 148
Our relation with animals 148
Our relation to plants 159
Things and ideas 161
Summary 169
8. MORAL EDUCATION 171
What is moral education? 171
The one-caring as teacher 175
Dialogue 182
Practice 187
CONTENTS ix
Confirmation 193
Organizing schools for caring 197
AFTERWORD 203
NOTES 209
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 219
INDEX 223