More Dr. Seuss and Philosophy by Jacob M. Held

Author:Jacob M. Held
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Tending the Nest

Ponderings about the differences between men and women not only blessed us with the assuring wisdom that “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” but also brought about some real food for thought: namely, Carol Gilligan’s book In a Different Voice (1982),[5] which set up what’s known today as care ethics, a feminist branch in moral philosophy that seeks to establish a counterweight to traditional moral theories. As the title of Gilligan’s book indicates, she claims that women approach moral problems differently than men due to their different life experiences. Life experiences differ due to traditional gender expectations, which specify which kind of bearing seems appropriate for which sex. And even those unfamiliar with the range of products in an ordinary toy store recognize that society expects very distinct things of men and women. Specifically, women/girls are encouraged to focus on the so-called private realm of family (not to mention their looks), whereas men employ themselves in the manly world of business, the public sphere. It is because of these divergent areas of life that Gilligan thinks men take to an ethics of justice, which focuses on abstract reflections concerning people’s rights and aim to set up general principles (if you will, the Kantian approach mentioned at the beginning of this chapter), whereas women, Gilligan argues, have a different approach to ethics, one grounded in their special responsibility to care for others, family members in particular. (Needless to say, such “responsibility” is socially channeled rather than biologically determined—otherwise, Mayzie couldn’t enjoy herself so much in Palm Beach.) Women, therefore, tend to adopt an ethic of care.

Those who subscribe to an ethics of care highlight that it captures the actual situation of human beings more adequately than former ethical theories: “Moralities built on the image of the independent, autonomous, rational individual largely overlook the reality of human dependence and the morality it calls for.”[6] Because, like it or not, all of us are at least during some times of our lives highly dependent on others, especially as infants and elders. People with disabilities might be in need of care their whole life. And given their unbelievably small size, the Whos will always depend on the good will of persons like Horton. By ignoring our vulnerability and dependency, ethical theories that celebrate autonomy and rationality are optimistic at best, and at their worst callous and insensitive to genuine, variable human needs. But what precisely does “caring” mean? First and foremost, it stands for a kind of work—one usually associated with women (and which Mayzie refuses to accomplish). Recall the dry remark of the authorial voice in the episode when Horton and Mayzie meet again at the circus: “The work was all done. Now she wanted [the egg] back” (Hatches). Caring for those who are dependent on you is work. It’s labor intensive. Some care ethicists highlight the labor aspect of care,[7] but care also entails a special kind of motivation, or attitude (which Mayzie clearly lacks).

According to one definition, to care about others means to be emotionally sensitive to them.

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