[1] What is care? Some reflections from my first reading of ‘The Ethics of Care’ by Virginia Held (2006)

[2] This has been a challenging read & one that has taken considerable time/effort. The rewards though have been substantial & the text is full of insights that I have found myself returning to, mulling over & thinking on.

[3] Held positions care as a value & a practice. ‘Caring’ is a moral value found in persons’ characteristics & one that is realised & demonstrated through practice.

[4] Care is a condition for human life. In this respect it is the most basic moral value. Yet, care has been consistently devalued, as have the women disproportionately involved in fundamentally important care practices.

[5] Practices of care are of course multiple, but they can be understood as sharing common features. Care practices are rooted in connectedness between persons they are often characterised by mutuality & trust. Caring is relational.

[6] Relational virtues like trust - understood as a “mutual understanding of intention” (Held, 2006: 57) - have important preconditions. Trust requires cooperation & cooperation is maintained in dialogue.

[7] “To have a caring community, persons would need to trust one another [&] respond to their needs.” This requires attention to power. “Relations between people can be criticized when they become dominating, exploitative, mistrustful, or hostile” (Held, 2006: 57/158)

[8] Care is a precondition for rights & justice. To recognise each other’s rights we first have to care. “Unless the presumption of care is met, people seem not to be concerned enough about others to care whether their rights are respected or even recognised” (Held, 2006: 132)

[9] Caring is active. There is a distinction between ‘caring’ & ‘caring about’. ‘Caring about’ does not necessarily connote action. ‘Caring’ in contrast, is an interactive relation involving personal engagement.

[10] Philosophy has historically ignored care. Kantian and utilitarian moral theories have focused primarily on the rational decisions of agents taken as independent and autonomous individuals. Pre-feminist philosophy also largely ignored/demeaned women.

[11] The extension of markets & values of competition are at odds with care. Societies need civic virtues. “If the pursuit of self-interest & the assertion of individual rights dominate” these virtues & their associated practices will be continually undermined (Held, 2006: 137)

[12] Reaching way beyond the domain of intimate relationships, the feminist ethics of care has important lessons for politics, civil society & global relations.

[13] Set against the individualising logics of today, care is resistance. Care is also a fundamental value & practice for the pursuit of more equal & just societies. Given the immediate & wider conditions of current moment, we cannot afford to neglect the importance of care.