Lonergan�s Ethics and Feminist Ethics: Exploring the Meaning of Care

Abstract

Over the past thirty-odd years, the feminist contribution of the ethic of care has changed the way in which scholars and �lay people� think about and approach ethical practices in our contemporary society. These changes are important in two significant ways. First, the contribution of feminist work to the body of ethics as a whole is a valuable addition. Second, by drawing attention to the concrete context of moral decision-making, particularly the notion of care, feminist scholars have opened the door for meaningful discussion and understanding of the word care as it is involved in moral decision-making. The latter is where Lonergan�s theory of ethics is most beneficial.The article is written in four sections. It begins with a brief review of a feminist perspective on the ethic of care; a second section explores Lonergan�s identification of levels of consciousness as relevant to feminist notions of care; a third section explores the influence of Aquinas on Lonergan�s theory of ethics and richly applies this fuller context (linking feelings, plans, actions and decisions) to feminist contributions; a final section enlarges significantly on the meaning of the word care by introducing Lonergan�s idea of functional specialization as an �ethic of ethics� that will care about the field of ethics in a radically new way.