Response to Nel Nodding's Argument in "The Language of Care Ethics"

The ethics of care is a theory that tries to argue out about what makes an action morally right or wrong. The study of this topic is increasingly becoming popular over the years as many people try to understand the issue to greater detail and make new observations or changes in the previous traits. This essay is an evaluation of Nell Noddings' argument in his article, The Language of Care Ethics. The paper summarizes the findings expressed in the book and discusses them as Noddings phrases them.

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First, Nell expresses the idea of the caring relation. The caring relation is an ethic that involves one party being in charge of the protection and satisfaction of another person without expecting anything in return. An excellent example is between a mother and her child. When the child cries, the mother tries to please it by playing with the baby or feeding it or doing any other activity that is likely to make the baby stop crying. In doing such acts, the mother ensures that the baby's needs are met, and the baby is satisfied. The proof of satisfaction, in this case, is the gesture by the baby by smiling or sleeping peacefully. The carers motivation is to satisfy the person they are caring for. In the case when the cared for is not contented, the motivation of the carer is to provide to the needs of the cared-for. The carer makes it their priority to cater for the others and even stops other projects that may have been underway when the cared for was dissatisfied (Noddings, 3). The response by the person being taken care of must be noted by the carer to qualify the situation to be a caring relationship. The response also makes it possible for the caregiver to deepen the relationship by improving the methods that they use to satisfy the recipient of care.

Being a carer or one who is cared for is not a permanent tag on someone but is only a temporary act depending on the situation. It is possible for one to be a carer in one case, then a cared-for in the next. This is evident among couples since the husband and wife constantly help each other. This method is however controversial especially when the recipient of care is not in a position to give a proper response. An excellent example is when a nurse is attending a very sick patient. In such a circumstance, the patient is not in a position to accord the caregiver the expected response. Another controversy about this theory is when only one of the people can be the caregiver in a situation such as a teacher and a student and a nurse and a patient. In this case, reciprocity is not possible, and the carer only depends on the response given by the cared-for. If the information provided is not sufficient, then the carer's job becomes more complicated.

There are two types of care; natural caring and ethical caring. Natural caring occurs due to the moral inclination that a person ought to care. They are driven by love and not duty and put in a lot of physical and emotional support in doing their work. In a case where errors occur in the process of care, then the person switches to ethical care. The errors involved in caring are noted when the recipient of the concern does not show the response that the caregiver expected. In this scenario, the carers main aim is to restore the initial conditions, and they act such that they want to accomplish their best in caregiving (Noddings 3). Care should be based on the moral values of society and should be logically thought of before doing acts that are not morally upright as noted in most women (Kant 196). Women are naturally inclined to do good and be nice such that they are incapable to a certain extent of thinking about the moral implications of their acts. They base their activities on feelings such as empathy and sympathy.

Empathy is the feeling that result from attention (Slote). To offer the necessary care, a caregiver must be attentive to the cared-for's needs and experience some feelings that motivate them to help. Empathy is not a voluntary feeling that one has only by paying attention. It may also be caused by involuntary factors such as when one witnesses an accident. The immediate expression that will cloud a person's mind in such a situation may be empathy or sympathy. Sympathy is a feeling of compassion or pity for the hardships that another person is going through. In the case of caregiving, empathy is one of the most common feelings since the caregiver mainly tries to fit in the shoes of the cared-for and tries to make sure that they are not only satisfied but increase their satisfaction and contention.

Women have been known to have more empathy than their male counterparts. These feelings are based on the fact that it is the women who take care of their young for most instances since time immemorial. In the traditional times, women were supposed to accurately identify with the needs of their children to avoid losing them to bad character traits and other factors that came to children who were not well taken care of. The women were also supposed to ensure the satisfaction of their husbands. Their main aim was to ensure that they make the lives of their husbands and children more comfortable. To achieve this, they had to be conversant with all the feelings that their husbands and children felt. They also had to be attentive to their needs and the specific times when they were needed.

It is possible to improve the empathy that a person has. This can be achieved by involving those that one wants to learn empathy in caregiving activities. Several methods can be used to enhance empathy. First is by paying more attention to a person's feelings or a persons situation. It is possible that a person does not offer enough empathy because they are not familiar with the condition that the other person is faced with. The only way to be familiar with another person's feelings is by paying attention to them. The caregiver should also be curious about the feelings of the cared-for. In doing so, they get a better understanding of the person's opinion, and they evaluate them in depth which makes it easier to understand them.

In addition to that, the caregiver should be able to communicate with the person they care about. This enables them to share ideas about how the care should be given and even correct the areas that are not very pleasing to the person being taken care of. Communication is also the only pathway that the carer gets the feedback about their care. A perfect example of communication is when a mother tries to please her baby who is crying. By crying, the baby sends a message to the mother that they are not satisfied with the situation they are in. The mother then empathizes with the baby and does something that pleases the bay such as suckling it. The child then communicates their contention by smiling. Any barrier that inhibits this communication is a problem to teaching and experiencing empathy.

Using the above techniques, it is possible to teach and enhance a persons ability to empathize. The acts also improve the quality of care that a person can offer since they have the best understanding of the situation that the cared-for is going through. The result of this type of caregiving is that the caregiver gets a better response to their care which motivates and also satisfies them since it shows that they have achieved their main aims of caregiving. It is essential to offer the best quality of care, and the study of care ethics tries to enhance such a situation.

Works Cited

Kant, Immanuel. "Of the distinction of the beautiful and sublime in the interrelations of the two sexes." 1994). Philosophy of women (3rd ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett (1761).

Noddings, Nel. THE LANGUAGE OF CARE ETHICS. California: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print.

Slote, Michael. The ethics of care and empathy. Routledge, 2007.