Course Overview

Meet Your Professor

Professor Rudolf Klimes, PhD, welcomes you to this online course.

Introduction

From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

The moral theory known as “ the ethics of care” implies that there is moral significance in the fundamental elements of relationships and dependencies in human life. Normatively, care ethics seeks to maintain relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of care-givers and care-receivers in a network of social relations. Most often defined as a practice or virtue rather than a theory as such, “care” involves maintaining the world of, and meeting the needs of ourselves and others. It builds on the motivation to care for those who are dependent and vulnerable, and it is inspired by both memories of being cared for and the idealizations of self. Following in the sentimentalist tradition of moral theory, care ethics affirms the importance of caring motivation, emotion and the body in moral deliberation, as well as reasoning from particulars. One of the original works of care ethics was Milton Mayeroff’s short book, On Caring, but the emergence of care ethics as a distinct moral theory is most often attributed to the works of psychologist Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings in the mid-1980s. Both charged traditional moral approaches with male bias, and asserted the “voice of care” as a legitimate alternative to the “justice perspective” of liberal human rights theory. Annette Baier, Virginia Held, Eva Feder Kittay, Sara Ruddick, and Joan Tronto are some of the most influential among many subsequent contributors to care ethics.

Study Modules

This course consists of 10 modules, E31-E40. Please study all of them. Do not take the tests at the end of each module. For E30, take the test at the end of this page.

• E31. Ethical Care
• E32. Research Ethics
• E33. Palliative Care
• E34. Political Ethics
• E35. Codes of Ethics
• E36. Character Education
• E37. Golden Rule Ethics
• E38. Conflict of Interest
• E39. Free to Forgive
• E40. Critical Thinking

Test

The online test has 60 multiple-choice questions, about 6 questions for each of the ten modules, E31-E40.