Deck 9: Feminist Thought and the Ethics of Care

Question 1

Identify and explain the supposed differences between male and female ethical perspectives.

Answer 1

The differences between male and female ethical perspectives are the following:
• Males have more objective and universal views on particular issues as they evaluate the consequences of a particular action to the overall society, while females have more subjective and personal views as they think about the consequences of a particular action to the people who she loves
• Males emphasize the use of reason, while females value more the importance of feelings
• Males make decisions in a more unbiased way, while females' views are more biased

Question 2

Contrast the research findings of Carol Gilligan and Lawrence Kohlberg on male and female moral development.

Answer 2

Kohlberg believed that people should behave according to their personal moral laws and he stated that females were not fully morally developed. Hence, he classified males as superior human beings in terms of moral development.
On the other hand, CGilligan did not make a comparison of which gender had a superior moral development, but she just stated that males and females have different ethical perspectives.
For example, males have more objective and universal views on particular issues as they evaluate the consequences of a particular action to the overall society, while females have more subjective and personal views as they think about the consequences of a particular action to the people who she loves.

Question 3

According to Freud, why were women supposed to be morally deficient?

Answer 3

According to Freud, women were supposed to be morally deficient because men emphasized the use of reason and regulations, while women valued more the importance of feelings and personal relationships. Thus, men had a better sense of justice than women.

Question 4

What are the basic features of the ethics of care?

Question 5

How does Gilligan's duck and rabbit example help explain the difference between the two moral perspectives?

Question 6

Describe the psychosexual development explanation of female and male moral perspectives.

Question 7

Summarize Caroline Whitbeck's biological explanation of the difference between female and male moral perspectives.

Question 8

How has the difference been explained in terms of "maternal thinking"?

Question 9

Describe the basic issues involved in trying to decide whether one type of moral perspective is better than another.

Question 10

Describe some of the history and characteristics of feminist thought, including the so called "waves" of feminism.