Feminist Ethics

A Critique of Traditional Ethical Theory (TET)

1.  TET does not take into account the experiences of women

2.  TET holds women incapable of moral existence

3.  TET holds what moral existence there may be is inferior

4.  TET assigns higher priority to men’s interest

In sum, TET perpetuates a system of patriarchy – the privileging of men and the corresponding subordination of women

 

Feminist ethics is uniform in its rejection of patriarchy and sexism

It varies in its specific approaches:

• Marxist feminist
• eco-feminist
• existentialist feminist
• postmodern feminist, etc.

A continuum of approaches with respect to TET

Dichotomies:
The Western philosophical tradition tends to interpret reality through various conceptual dichotomies:

• Culture / Nature

• Transcendence / Immanence

• Universal / Particular

• Mind / Body

• Reason / Emotion

• Public / Private

These are often gendered and privileged accordingly

Public/Private Dichotomy

Public Sphere - universality

·         traditional male sphere

·         law, politics, and commerce

·         positions of power, influence, and prestige

·         values power, competition, reason

Private Sphere - particularity

• traditional female sphere

• home and family: wife, mother, homemaker

• position of subjugation and dependence

• values domesticity, nurture, passion

TET has largely excluded the private sphere from serious ethical consideration

TET falsely presents what amounts to men's morality as gender neutral morality

Feminists approaches to the dichotomies
    - Accept

    - Combine

    - Reject

    - Deconstruct and reverse

 

Masculine / Feminine Nature

A factual question, not an ethical question

 

Bears on ethics since it raises the possibility of distinct moral perspectives
    - Human nature vis-à-vis ethics

 

Notion of different natures is problematic

    -  Difference equates to inequality

    -  Inequality may justify privilege

 

Feminists in near unanimity maintain:

We are not biologically predisposed to different ethical perspectives on the basis of sex

Different perspectives emerge from different social constructs

It is a matter of gender, not sex

    -  Social roles generated by culture, not biology

 

Carol Gilligan – In a Different Voice

Critique of Kohlberg

Different perspectives typifying respective genders, not more or less advanced ones

Female: emphasized communication, caring, attention to details, personal relationships, and the emotional bonds involved

Male: emphasized logical reasoning coupled with abstract, universal principles

 

An Ethic of Care (vs. An Ethic of Rights & Duties)

Women experience the world as a complex web of interdependent relationships where responsible caring for others is implicit in their moral lives

Ethical action is caring action

    - An action “is right or wrong according to how faithfully it is rooted in caring”

    - Caring not exclusively female but women have suffered from its lack of explication and legitimation

Critics

 

The Importance of Context

TET abstracts from particularities, i.e., it tends to over-generalize & decontextualize  

• TET's moral subject = individualistic, abstract, rationalistic being
• This undifferentiated being ignores specific contextual features - men & women differently situated

 

Context of decision-making

      •  social & political institutions that define available options
      •   need to address these institutions

 

Conclusion:  Feminist Ethics

Critiques TET

Corrects TET

    - Contextualizes persons

            social/political/personal relationships

    - Individuates persons within this context

    - Posits the value and necessity of emotion

Uses its understanding of gender as basis of critique and corrective

Appropriates methods and substance of TET to varying degrees