Ethics of Care: Readings and Perspecives

The article examines the main emphasis in the evolution of the concept of care. It, on the one hand, builds a different ethics (C. Gilligan) and, on the other, is an attempt to justify a new political philosophy (J. Tronto) and new forms of solidarity arising from the understanding of vulnerability as universally shared situation. Particular attention has been paid to the French ethical voices – Sandra Logier and Patricia Paperman, who contribute to the enrichment of care readings: it is a leading relational ethic and political weapon that valorizes all that remains beyond the reach of ethics of justice. Possible political projections range it between the reduction of the feminist charge of the concept in case of over-reduction in favor of a particular political context (J.-M. Chahsiche) and the promising future of this “holistic” concept, bearing resources to enrich the political (S. Logier). Further arguments in favor of ethics of care have been sought in Hunyadi’s theory of the role of context as a combination of factuality and counter-factuality, and the opportunity for ethics of care to formulate its own normativity (St. Collins). The ethics of care is a contribution to feminist theories of difference and an example of a moderate deconstructionist approach: it practically realizes the calls of the deconstruction to “retain aporia” (Fr. Laruelle), but without reaching its possible extremes.