An Ethic of Care

This chapter considers the moral implications of giving care a more central place in human life. The practice of an ethic of care is complex. It requires some specific moral qualities. The four elements of care that Berenice Fisher and the chapter identify provide a good starting point to describe some elements of an ethic of care. The four elements of care are: caring about, noticing the need to care in the first place; taking care of, assuming responsibility for care; care-giving, the actual work of care that needs to be done; and care-receiving, the response of that which is cared for to the care. From these four elements of care arise four ethical elements of care: attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness. Care arises out of the fact that not all humans or others or objects in the world are equally able, at all times, to take care of themselves.