Robot Druggie

CARING ETHICS WEAK CARING .................................................................................................................................. 1 STRONG CARING .............................................................................................................................. 2 ARGUMENT OUTLINE FOR CARING THEORY ....................................................................................... 4

CARING. Caring about others should guide our ethical decisions. Caring Ethics centers around our positive emotional response to others. Caring Ethics calls attention to our emotional bonds, claiming that ethics should not be only about logical decisions. Feelings are not only relevant, they are often our best ethical guide.

In the Singer reading on caring you are presented with the standard view of caring ethics. The reading refers to the difference between partial/impartial ethical theory. This discussion refers to the fact that Feminist Ethics of Care maintains that we should care for those closest to us. This theory singles out some people or some groups for special ethical attention. Singer notes that Feminist Ethics of Caring is criticized for being too partial, seeming to be a weak basis for ethics. I am designating the Feminist Ethics of Caring as Weak Caring because it is weak ethically. I am distinguishing this Weak Caring Theory from Strong Caring. Strong Caring is impartial, but there are no readings on the Internet or elsewhere that cover the distinction you will find in these notes between weak sense of caring and strong sense.

WEAK CARING Weak Sense Of Caring -our relationships with others bring special commitments and regards. We should care more for those closest to us and our actions can or should reflect this special caring. Those closest to us are family and friends. But closeness can be somewhat relative too. You are rarely if ever close to people you will never meet. However, you can have Internet relationships with people you will never meet in person, yet form a bond with them nonetheless. In business, you have a special relationship with customers, some of whom you will not meet. All of these relationships form a closeness that matters. Weak Caring maintains we should not ignore these relationships. Another closely related feminist theory of caring is Communitarianism. Communitarianism asserts that we need community and we have responsibilities to our community. Caring Relationships with individuals and with our communities matter, and can outweigh rights and utility.

EXAMPLE-Should we feed children in distant countries and supply medicine to those children while neglecting our own children, either children in our own family or in our own country?. Most of the ethical theories we have covered make no provision for this kind of ethical consideration. For example, utilitarianism seeks to maximize benefit but makes no provision for where that

benefit might be best served. Rights may recognize special duties to those closest to us, but gives no basis for those closest to us as having special rights. Likewise, virtues & Kantian ethics do not specify how we should treat special cases of caring relationships. Ethics of caring does pay attention to feelings and relationships.

Problem There is a fine line between favoritism/prejudice and special commitments and regards for our caring relationships. For example, if we favor someone in the workplace because we have developed a strong connection (work-wise) with that person, should we treat that person differently? If we do so, it seems like favoritism. A more telling example would be to market a harmful product overseas in order to help our economy at home. Yes, it is important to recognize that how we treat people in our own community does matter, but the Strong Sense Of Caring I present below will not allow us, ethically, to dump harm onto strangers in order to help our own economy or our own community. Strong Caring, used in conjunction with Weak Caring, makes for an all-around solid ethical theory of Caring.

STRONG CARING We should never ignore our natural sense of caring for others. Caring for others is the foundation for ethical principles and theories. Refer back to notes on Kant, there we noted that the philosopher David Hume claimed that no facts about the world can tell us what we ought do. There is no bridge from is to ought Recall also that the Kantian categorical imperative attempts to bridge the is-ought gap. Kant does so by noting the importance of rationality as definitive of humans. But are humans most definitive, ethically, as rational beings?

STRONG SENSE OF CARING, bridging is to ought Let us take a philosophical, questioning stance regarding the theories we have examined thusfar Why should people have rights? Why should we want overall good for the world? Why should people be treated fairly? We believe people should have rights, and we are outraged at the stripping of rights because we care about other people. We want to believe the world is moving to more overall good because we care We are upset when others are not treated fairly because we care. Caring for others is the foundation for ethical principles and theories.

EXAMPLE: we believe that people have the right to not be murdered because when someone is murdered, our hearts go out to them. We sympathize with the pain, the needs, and the lives of others. We care about other human beings.

We need to care, and we need caring responses from others. This is a fact about human nature. Human infants who have no caring responses from others die. From this fact we get what we ought do. We ought to maximize happiness, observe rights and duties, because we care. Caring is the center of our ethical sense. This ethically strong sense of caring is impartial. We care for people we will never meet. This is obvious when we see disaster relief efforts around the globe. Human beings care about other human beings. Individuals need caring relationships and they need communities, even in a state of nature. But our caring varies: some care more, some less. Those who feel no such caring are missing the core of ethical value. When it comes to strangers, we sympathize more for strangers who are most vulnerable, or most in need of caring from others. Notice that Strong sense of caring does not face some of the problems that Utilitarianism faces. For example, our sense of caring tells us that sacrificing innocent people for the greater good is outrageous. When you choose ethical theories to compare be careful not to use caring as one theory compared to virtue, since I notice some of you feel you must use what you have learned in previous classes, you might think this is okay. It is not. I have intentionally removed caring (benevolence or compassion) from the list of virtues, because I claim caring is the foundation of all ethics.

STRONG CARING ETHICS, SPECIAL USE But if caring is the foundation of all ethics, then why should we bother with other ethical theories? Think of strong caring as that special natural sense that validates other theories. Each of the other theories find their place in response to the circumstances of humanity and the ways we approach decisions about real facts of real cases. For example, Rights Theory gives us a way to grant humanity a sense of dignity and worth even in the face of victimization. Rights theory is a way to avoid always having to depend on the charitable nature of others. Utilitarianism is a way to rationally discuss issues of blatant victimization when the circumstances of the case do not make us feel like crying: victims are mistreated, but not horribly so. Reserve Strong Caring for those cases where you are truly outraged and, at the same time, feel very upset for the victims and their families. Other ethical theories serve as ways to be reasonable and articulate about ethical problems. Strong Caring fits best when people are truly suffering and we are outraged by the selfish treatment they have endured. Caring Theory is about human emotions, often about blatantly physical human emotions. It is a theory that stresses humans as social animals, on an

emotional; physical, and even a chemical level; claiming ethics is based on our emotional and physical natures.

CARING ETHICS & TECHNOLOGY Rarely do cases of technology apply well to caring ethics. Similar to the third Kantian test that deals with only using people, claiming someone does not care is the most damning ethical judgment one can make. To choose Caring as a theory, mere lack of caution by companies will not suffice. You have to have strong reason to believe that a company or persons do not care about others involved in the case. How do you decide to use Caring theory? If you hear of a case and you almost feel like crying because your heart goes out to the victims in the case, that would be a case where Caring Ethics fits best. Examples would be cases of child pornography, or FOXCONN, or cyber bullying causing victims to commit suicide. Medical technology cases often call for caring ethics, where companies risk patient lives and just do not care if patients die. But for most technology cases, disregard of user communication needs is just not strong enough to claim the company does not care. Use a different theory.

ARGUMENT OUTLINE FOR CARING THEORY When you apply CARING ETHICS, you must discuss both WEAK & STRONG CARING

1. DEFINE CARING Caring about others should guide our ethical decisions. Just copy/paste the definition.

2. State in a sentence whether Weak Caring is violated or not, & whether Strong Caring is vi­ olated or not.

3. DEFINE WEAK CARING Our relationships with others bring special commitments and regards. Just copy/paste the definition.

4. Describe all special relationships in this case: (customers, community, family, friends, etc.) 5. Explain any special commitments and regards these relationships should bring, a para­

graph for each relationship. 6. Explain how these special regards are being met or being ignored. 7. Define other motivations, if any, that were used in the choice of action . 8. Explain why the value of a caring relationship here is more important than other motiva­

tions 9. DEFINE STRONG CARING. We should never ignore our natural sense of caring.

Caring for others is the foundation for ethical principles and theories. Just copy/paste the definition.

10. Explain who suffers or could suffer by the actions in the case? 11. Describe our caring reaction to news of the case (emotional reaction) 12. Explain who is responsible (can be more than one party) 13. Explain if those who are responsible should be aware of suffering they are causing or

could cause. 14. Describe how responsible parties reacted to situation

15. Define other motivations that were used in reaction (greed, etc.). 16. Explain why caring is more important than other motivations 17. Summarize which caring theory is most important. In cases where Weak Caring was

violated and Strong Caring too, Weak Caring is usually most important: Not caring what happens to others is bad, but it is especially bad when you do not care what happens to people who you know or who rely on you.

If weak caring is violated, then strong caring is often violated too. If the case is about how caring a company is, not violating strong caring at all, then discuss your approach with me before you write your analysis.