Discuss and Compare two Care Philosophers Essay

Discuss and Compare two Care Philosophers - Essay Example It is thus prudent to take the level of affectedness and vulnerability of other interest before responding to a situation. Carol Gilligan and Joan Tronto are among the notable feminists who have contributed to the development of this theory. Joan Tronto borrows a lot from Carol Gilligan theory who he says is mentor. This paper discusses and compares the contribution of these two philosophers (Jagger et al, 42). The first part of the essay will discuss Carol Gilligan theory of different voices and the second portion will look at Joan Tronto rewriting of the ethic care theory into a postmodern theory. Carol Gilligan was a student of Kohlberg. However, she did not agree with the Kohlberg theories on moral development in humans. He saw Kohlberg theory as being gender biased since it showed that girls’ moral development was lower compared to that of boys and this was reflected in adult men and women. She asserted that this theory was biased in the sense that it only presented a mal e oriented perspective. This could also be contributed by the fact that Kohlberg subject were dominated by boys. She developed a theory that incorporated a female perspective on the subject. She said that men and women respond to moral dilemma differently (Held, 26). Women have to prioritize compassion and empathy over the moral scale that is provided by Kohlberg theory. This does not mean that they have weaker developed. She developed a new perspective of looking at the moral development called â€Å"The different voice† which was developed through unbiased empirical observation of the reaction of both men and women to ethical dilemma. Gilligan vies are contained in her book a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development written in 1982. This book has been seen to influence feminist not only in the field of psychology but also in other disciplines such as gender studies, political psychoanalysis and political studies. Being a feminist philosopher Gill igan aimed to deconstruct the classical masculine biased moral psychology by investigate the previously unheard female voice on the issues of ethics. She blamed the psychological theorist such as Kohlberg and Piaget for only using boys and the male perspective to construct the various moral theories in psychology. It is important to note that by asserting that gender differences results in differences in moral sensibility does not mean that Gilligan attacked Piaget and Kohlberg gender neutral theories. She claimed that it was wrong to conclude from Kantian theory that women are not fully developed morally since they are not able to be completely autonomous. She said that women actually do have a different voice than that of men which she now termed as the theory o f women moral sensibility popularly known as the care ethics. In order to understand Gilligan care ethics, it is important to look at Kohlberg theory of moral development. According to Kohlberg, moral development can be di vided into six stages which are divided into three main stages, convention, preconvention and post convention morality. The final stage which is the post convention morality is the point where a person is believed to have arrived at full moral development and has been labeled as the universal ethical principle orientation. He later realized not all human beings get to reach this stage with Mahatma Gandhi being an exceptional