ABSTRACT
This chapter explains care ethics in relation to mainstream distributive justice debates. Care ethics can be faithfully translated into the language of distributive justice and welfare-based theories and capabilities theories as a unique approach to distributive justice. Care ethics is unique in comparison with other distributive justice theories because it aims to distribute care which is a complex entity encompassing resources, welfare, capabilities and relational values. Theories of distributive justice necessarily rest on some claim about the proper subject of distribution. Before there can be any meaningful discussion about standards of distribution, the subject of distribution needs first to be decided. Welfare-based theories of distributive justice avoid the fetishism of resource-based theories by measuring justice in terms of human well-being most usually defined by contemporary philosophers as individual preference satisfaction. Care ethics also seems better suited than other distributive justice frameworks for guiding thinking about what justice means for children, disabled people, women and a number of other groups.
