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Main Ideas in Noddings

Introduction Hello, and welcome back for this video on main ideas in Nel Noddings!

Background on Noddings Noddings was born in 1929. She is an American philosopher and education theorist who taught for many years at Stanford University. She also worked as an elementary and high school math teacher before pursuing her career in academia. The reading in our text is a selection from Noddings’ book, Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education.

Caring relationships Let me provide a little background on the concept of caring relationships. Noddings presents an account of ethics which centers on the value of these types of relationships. On her view, caring relationships can occur between equals, such as friends, or between parties that differ in status or ability, such as a parent and a child. Caring involves concern and affection for another. It also involves some familiarity with the needs and interests of the other. Noddings speaks about the way in which care must be received in a caring relationships. When one party reaches out to care for the other, the party receiving care will acknowledge this by responding with gratitude, reciprocal care, or—at a minimum— pleasure and awareness.

Natural and ethical caring In the reading, Noddings distinguishes between two kinds of caring:

Natural caring is caring that comes easily because a person readily wants to care for another.

In contrast,

Ethical caring is caring that requires a special effort because a person does not initially want to care for another.

The care of parents for their children is typically a case of natural caring, since parents usually want to help and support their children. Another example of natural caring would be the care of close friends who enjoy spending time together. An example of ethical caring might be care for an annoying coworker. While this does not come naturally to most people, there are often ways to reach out and care for such a person.

Care as an ethical ideal Noddings encourages people to affirm care as an ethical ideal, and to engage in both natural and ethical caring when suitable opportunities present themselves. She states that caring relationships are the ideal form of human relatedness, and urges people to form a strong commitment to care by reflecting on their own positive memories of giving and receiving care. Noddings touches on these issues when she discusses the source of our obligation to care for others. As she states:

“The source of my obligation [to care for others] is the value I place on the relatedness of caring. This value itself arises as a product on actual caring and being cared-for and my reflection on the goodness of these concrete caring situations” (1984/2010, p. 430).

This is a quote from p. 430 of our reading from the course text.

Noddings’ view of competing ethical theories Noddings expresses concern about ethical theories that attempt to define right and wrong using abstract general principles. Kant’s categorical imperative and Mill’s theory of utilitarianism are two examples of the kind of views she is concerned about. Noddings believes that these theories are unsatisfactory because they lose sight of the special circumstances that make each situation unique. She is also concerned because these views encourage people to think about ethics in a dry and unemotional way, rather than tapping into people’s deepest ethical feelings, which Noddings believes relate to caring relationships.

Noddings also weighs in on the issue of relativism, and explains that she is not a relativist, in the way that, for example, Ruth Benedict was. While Noddings wants ethics to be fairly flexible, she believes the value of care itself is universal, and that care should be affirmed by every culture as the best way for people to relate to each other.

Concern for distant people Noddings also differs in an interesting way from some of the thinkers we have studied, such as Peter Singer. On pp. 432-433 of our reading, in the paragraphs starting with the one that begins “Before turning to a discussion of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and their usefulness,” Noddings says that we are not typically required to help people who are distant from us, such as people who are suffering from absolute poverty on other continents. She holds this view because she believes that care is the heart of ethics, and that we cannot form full relationships of care—in the way she defines these—with distant strangers. She would presumably tell people to care for those they encounter in their own homeland, and suggest that people in other countries should be helped by those who are close enough to form genuine relationships of care with them.

The ethics of care Since Noddings is skeptical about general principles in ethics, it goes somewhat against the grain of her thought to sum up her views in a single statement. Still, her viewpoint has gained prominence as an ethical theory. When her views are presented as an ethical theory—as a general account of what makes any action right or wrong—the theory is usually called “care ethics” or “the ethics of care.”

The ethics of care holds that we should respond in a caring way to others around us, taking into account their specific needs and circumstances, as well as our own capacities and any established relationships of care that may be present.

For example, since I am married, I should remain attentive to my wife’s needs, within my established relationship with her. Further, if I learn that a coworker is in need, I should be ready to show care for that person, if it is within my capacities. However, to respond in a truly caring way, I should also remain sensitive to my coworker’s specific needs and relationships, as well as my own, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution.

The ethics of care as a feminine view

In the title of her book, Noddings calls her view a “feminine approach to ethics.” This is an interesting and controversial label. Noddings uses this label because she believes that the ethics of care draws more strongly than other ethical views on the way that women approach ethical decision- making. Her idea is that women, at least in modern Western societies, are typically well- attuned to the value of care, whereas men tend to prefer abstract ethical principles that they can apply in a dry and analytical way. Of course, these generalizations are controversial. Some feminists have welcomed Noddings’ views for the way that they focus on women’s concerns, and point out possible masculine biases in other ethical theories. However, other feminists have been uncomfortable with the assumptions that Noddings makes about women and men. The fear here is that Noddings may be perpetuating existing stereotypes, or boxing people in, by the way she describes men and women. While women have often occupied caring roles in Western society, such as homemaker, teacher, or nurse, many feminists believe that is important to de-emphasize the popular view of women as caregivers, so that women, as well as men, feel empowered to assume any roles they may want in life.

Conclusion So, I will leave it there for this video, and let you to reflect on the pros and cons of Noddings’ view. We have now studied a number of different approaches to ethics, so I encourage you to think through them and consider which, if any, seems most compelling to you. In addition, if you have questions, or could use any help, please feel free to let me know so I can be in touch to assist you!