Embodied Care : Jane Addams, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Feminist Ethics

Until now, ethicists have said little about the body, limiting their comments on it to remarks made in passing or, at best, devoting a chapter to the subject. Embodied Care is the first work to argue for the body's centrality to care ethics, doing so by analyzing our corporeality at the phenomenological level. It develops the idea that our bodies are central to our morality, paying particular attention to the ways we come to care for one another. Hamington's argues that human bodies are "built to care"; as a result, embodiment must be recognized as a central factor in moral consideration. He takes the reader on an exciting journey from modern care ethics to Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body and then to Jane Addams's social activism and philosophy. The ideas in Embodied Care do not lead to yet another competing theory of morality; rather, they progress through theory and case studies to suggest that no theory of morality can be complete without a full consideration of the body. "Until now, ethicists have said little about the body, limiting their comments on it to remarks made in passing or, at best, devoting a chapter to the subject. Embodied Care is the first work to argue for the body's centrality to care ethics, doing so by analyzing our corporeality at the phenomenological level. It develops the idea that our bodies are central to our morality, paying particular attention to the ways we come to care for one another." "Hamington argues that human bodies are "built to care"; as a result, embodiment must be recognized as a central factor in moral consideration. He takes the reader on a journey from modern care ethics to Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body and then to Jane Addams's social activism and philosophy. The ideas in Embodied Care do not lead to yet another competing theory of morality; rather, they progress through theory and case studies to suggest that no theory of morality can be complete without a full consideration of the body."--BOOK JACKET.

Hamington argues that human bodies are built to care; as a result, embodiment must be recognized as a central factor in moral consideration. He takes the reader on an exciting journey from modern care ethics to Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body and then to Jane Addams's social activism and philosophy. The ideas in Embodied Care do not lead to yet another competing theory of morality; rather, they progress through theory and case studies to suggest that no theory of morality can be complete without a full consideration of the body.

Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Care--an Evolving Definition 1. The Landscape of Current Care Discourse 2. Merleau-Ponty and Embodied Epistemology: Caring Habits and Caring Knowledge 3. Caring Imagination: Bridging Personal and Social Morality 4. Jane Addams and the Social Habits of Care 5. What Difference Does Embodied Care Make? A Study of Same-Sex Marriage Conclusion: Experiencing One Another, Deconstructing Otherness, Joyfully Moving Ahead Notes Bibliography Index A chapter in American history about something that appears to be a quintessentially noncaring struggle for power reveals the pervasive significance of care.