Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy

Nel Noddings

Published by University of California Press 2002

Starting at Home

Caring and Social Policy

Nel Noddings
Edited by: Nel Noddings

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520927568

Overview
Contents

About this book

Nel Noddings, one of the central figures in the contemporary discussion of ethics and moral education, argues that caring--a way of life learned at home--can be extended into a theory that guides social policy. Tackling issues such as capital punishment, drug treatment, homelessness, mental illness, and abortion, Noddings inverts traditional philosophical priorities to show how an ethic of care can have profound and compelling implications for social and political thought.

Instead of beginning with an ideal state and then describing a role for home and family, this book starts with an ideal home and asks how what is learned there may be extended to the larger social domain. Noddings examines the tension between freedom and equality that characterized liberal thought in the twentieth century and finds that--for all its strengths--liberalism is still inadequate as social policy. She suggests instead that an attitude of attentive love in the home induces a corresponding responsiveness that can serve as a foundation for social policy.

With her characteristic sensitivity to the individual and to the vulnerable in society, the author concludes that any corrective practice that does more harm than the behavior it is aimed at correcting should be abandoned. This suggests an end to the disastrous war on drugs. In addition, Noddings states that the caring professions that deal with the homeless should be guided by flexible policies that allow practitioners to respond adequately to the needs of very different clients. She recommends that the school curriculum should include serious preparation for home life as well as for professional and civic life.

Emphasizing the importance of improving life in everyday homes and the possible role social policy might play in this improvement, Starting at Home highlights the inextricable link between the development of care in individual lives and any discussion of moral life and social policy.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction: Starting at Home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART ONE. CARE THEORY
1. Caring Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Harm and Care Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
3. Needs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4. Why Liberalism Is Inadequate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
5. A Relational Self Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
PART TWO. OUR SELVES AND OTHER SELVES
Interlude Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
6. Bodies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
7. Places, Homes, and Objects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
8. Attentive Love Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
9. Achieving Acceptability Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
10. Learning to Care Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
PART THREE. TOWARD A CARING SOCIETY
Interlude Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
11. Developing Social Policy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	230
12. Homes and Homelessness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
13. Deviance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
14. The Centrality of Education Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Concluding Remarks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 349
Keywords: Philosophy; Political

eBook

Published: August 31, 2002
ISBN: 9780520927568

Paperback

Planned Publication: August 31, 2002
ISBN: 9780520230262