Study Questions for Deontology and Care Ethics

Read Onora Oneills article, A Kantian Approach to Famine Relief and Carrs Ethics of
Care Contribution and then answer the following questions:
1. From the lecture, what is Kants view of making ethical considerations dependent
on consequences? What should be the foundation of ethics instead?
2. From the lecture, you learned that Kant believes that that moral requirements
must be unconditionally valid. What does this mean and why does he think this is
necessary? What is the formula of the Humanity as an End in Itself formula of the
Categorical Imperative?
3. From the lecture, explain Gilligans observations and how they led her to propose
care as a new basis for assessing ethics.
4. From Oneills article, what does it mean to treat someone as a mere means?
When it is permissible to treat someone as a means? Formulate an example to
show the difference between treating someone as a means and as a mere
means.
5. From Oneills article, explain the difference between the requirements of justice
and beneficence in Kantian ethics.
6. Discuss some of the requirements that the duty of justice place on us in times of
famine according to Oneill.
7. With regard to Care Ethics, what is the realm of ethical consideration that Held
thinks traditional ethics misses and what kinds of values does this cause them to
leave out?
8. Contrast the idea of self of traditional ethics to the idea of self that Held is
advocating. Which seems more accurate as a description of how we exist in the
world?
9. One of the key critiques that care ethicists make is that the division between
reason and emotions that has been made in traditional philosophy is artificial and
unhelpful. They advocate that we should cultivate desirable forms of emotion and
that ethics is incomplete without doing so. Do you think she is right? Comment on
this by referring to the example of human mothering, or use another pertinent
example of your own choosing.
10.What is the criticism of care ethics addressed by Carr, and how does Carr
explain Helds response to this criticism?