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University of California Press

About the Book

With numerous examples to supplement her rich theoretical discussion, Nel Noddings builds a compelling philosophical argument for an ethics based on natural caring, as in the care of a mother for her child.

In Caring—now updated with a new preface and afterword reflecting on the ongoing relevance of the subject matter—the author provides a wide-ranging consideration of whether organizations, which operate at a remove from the caring relationship, can truly be called ethical. She discusses the extent to which we may truly care for plants, animals, or ideas. Finally, she proposes a realignment of education to encourage and reward not just rationality and trained intelligence, but also enhanced sensitivity in moral matters.

About the Author

Nel Noddings is currently the Jacks Professor Emeriti of Child Education at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE TO THE 2013 EDITION
PREFACE TO THE 2003 EDITION

INTRODUCTION
1. WHY CARE ABOUT CARING?
The fundamental nature of caring
What does it mean to care?
Problems arising in the analysis of one-caring
The cared-for
Aesthetical caring
Caring and acting
Ethics and caring

2. THE ONE-CARING
Receiving
Thinking and feeling: turning points
Guilt and courage
Women and caring
Circles and chains
Asymmetry and reciprocity in caring
The ethical ideal and the ethical self
Rules and conflicts

3. THE CARED-FOR
The one-caring's attitude and its effects
Apprehension of caring necessary to the caring relationship; unequal meetings
Reciprocity
The ethics of being cared for

4. AN ETHIC OF CARING
From natural to ethical caring
Obligation
Right and wrong
The problem of justification
Women and morality: virtue
The toughness of caring

5. CONSTRUCTION OF THE IDEAL
The nature of the ideal
Constraints and attainability
Diminished ethical capacity
Nurturing the ideal
Maintaining the ideal

6. ENHANCING THE IDEAL: JOY
Our basic reality and affect
How should we describe emotion?
Perception and emotion: the object of emotion
and its appraisal
Emotions as reasons
Joy as exalted
Receptivity and joy in intellectual work
Joy as basic affect

7. CARING FOR ANIMALS, PLANTS, THINGS AND IDEAS
Our relation with animals
Our relation to plants
Things and ideas
Summary

8. MORAL EDUCATION
What is moral education?
The one-caring as teacher
Dialogue
Practice
Confirmation
Organizing schools for caring

AFTERWORD
NOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX