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225 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
This is the place to make clear-and to test-the basic notions on which an ethic of caring rests. I have been using relation as ontologically basic and the caring relation as ethically basic. We may think of relation as a set of ordered pairs generated by some rule. The sense in which I have used this term requires that the rule include some description of affect-that is, that the rule say something about the subjective experience of members in the relation. The caring relation, in particular, requires engrossment and motivational displacement on the part of the one-caring and a form of responsiveness or reciprocity on the part of the cared-for. It is important to re-emphasize that this reciprocity is not contractual; that is, it is not characterized by mutuality. The cared-for contributes to the caring relation, as we have seen, by receiving the efforts of one-caring, and this receiving may be accomplished by a disclosure of his own subjective experience in direct response to the one-caring or by a happy and vigorous pursuit of his own projects. (150-1)