Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:04:20.624Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

When Strangers Call: A Consideration of Care, Justice, and Compassion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Chris Frakes
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How ought we to respond to strangers in imminent need? Many people suggest that we need justice to temper the partiality of care. In this paper I argue that neither care nor justice adequately motivates attention to the suffering of strangers. Rather, a different virtue, compassion grounded in equanimity, is required. I demonstrate that the virtue of compassion allows the agent to sustain her engagement with suffering strangers without sacrificing her own flourishing.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 25 , Issue 1: Special Issue: FEAST I: Current Work in Feminist Ethics and Social Theory , Winter 2010 , pp. 79 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achtenberg, Deborah. 1996. Aristotelian resources for feminist thinking. In Feminism and ancient philosophy, ed. Ward, Julie K.New York: Routledge, pp. 95–117.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1941a. Nicomachean ethics. Trans. W. D. Ross. In The basic works of Aristotle, ed. McKeon, Richard. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1941b. Rhetoric. Trans. W. Rhys Roberts. In The basic works of Aristotle, ed. McKeon, Richard. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Blum, Lawrence. 1980. Compassion. In Explaining emotions, ed. Rorty, Amelie Oksenberg. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Broadie, Sarah. 1991. Ethics with Aristotle. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya. 1976. The path of purification (Visuddhimagga). Trans. Bhikkhu Nyanamoli. Boulder, Colo: Shambhala.Google Scholar
Card, Claudia. 1996. Unnatural lottery: Character and moral luck. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Davidson, Richard J., and Harrington, Anne, eds. 2002. Visions of compassion: Western scientists and Tibetan Buddhists examine human nature. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davion, Victoria. 1993. Autonomy, integrity, and care. Social Theory and Practice 19 (2): 161–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Berenice, and Tronto, Joan C. 1991. Toward a feminist theory of care. In Circles of care: Work and identity in women's lives, ed. Abel, Emily and Nelson, Margaret. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Goleman, Daniel, comp. 2004. Destructive emotions: How can we overcome them? A scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama. New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Halwani, Raja. 2003a. Care ethics and virtue ethics. Hypatia 18 (3): 161–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halwani, Raja. 2003b. Virtuous liaisons. Chicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Hoagland, Sarah Lucia. 1988. Lesbian ethics: Toward new value. Palo Alto, Calif: Institute of Lesbian Studies.10.1016/0277-5395(88)90107-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoagland, Sarah Lucia. 1991. Some thoughts about ‘caring’. In Feminist ethics, ed. Card, Claudia. Lawrence, Kans: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Keown, Damien. 1992. The nature of Buddhist ethics. New York: St. Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Charles W. 2005. ‘Ideal theory’ as ideology. Hypatia 20 (3): 165–84.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1969. On the genealogy of morals. Trans. Walter Kaufman. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Noddings, Nel. 1984. Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Noddings, Nel. 2002. Starting at home: Caring and social policy. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha. 1996. Compassion: The basic social emotion. Social Philosophy and Policy 13 (1): 27–58.10.1017/S0265052500001515CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha. 2003. Compassion and terror. Daedalus (Winter): 10–26.Google Scholar
Tessman, Lisa. 2005. Burdened virtues: Virtue ethics for liberatory struggles. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tronto, Joan. 1993. Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tronto, Joan. 2002. The ‘Nanny’ question in feminism. Hypatia 17 (2): 34–51.Google Scholar
Tronto, Joan. 2005. Care as the work of citizens: A modest proposal. In Women and citizenship, ed. Friedman, Marilyn. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tudor, Steven. 2001. Compassion and remorse. Leuven, Belgium: Peters.Google Scholar
Wallace, B. Alan. 2006. The attention revolution: Unlocking the power of the focused mind. Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications Inc.Google Scholar
Webster's II new riverside university dictionary. 1984 Boston: The Riverside Publishing Company.Google Scholar
White, Julie A., and Tronto, Joan C. 2004. Political practices of care: Needs and rights. Ratio Juris 17 (4): 425–53.10.1111/j.1467-9337.2004.00276.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar