Gilligan's Ethics of Care
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Proposed by Carol Gilligan in In a Different Voice as a critique of Kohlberg's framework. Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's hierarchy treated an abstract justice orientation as the highest stage, reflecting the experience of male samples and devaluing a care orientation centered on relationships, responsibility, and context. Care ethics treats responsiveness to particular people and situations as genuine moral maturity rather than a lower stage, and complements justice reasoning.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Ask the second question: alongside whether a rule was followed, ask who is affected and what care is owed - Stay concrete: judge the specific situation rather than applying an abstract principle mechanically - Balance the lenses: keep justice and care in view instead of letting one override the other
Anchor fast decisions
Justice reasoning abstracts away from particular relationships to produce general rules, which makes it consistent but blind to the specific obligations people carry. Care reasoning retains those particulars and treats responsiveness to need as the moral task. Because real decisions involve both general rules and particular relationships, using only one lens leaves a predictable class of considerations unexamined.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_careverified
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