PHIL 440A: Study Questions on Gilligan, Baier, and Friedman.

Study questions on Gilligan. Note this Gilligan reading is the article that is included in the Pojman anthology, but the Pojman version has been abridged to omit the most important parts. The full text of the Gilligan article is included in the course reader for you to read.

1. What is the difference between the justice perspective and the care perspective in ethics? What analogy does Gilligan use to describe the relationship between the two perspectives?

2. In Gilligan's research, what percentage of females focus on the care perspective? what percentage of females focus on the justice perspective? What percentage of males focus on the care perspective? What percentage of males focus on the justice perspective?

3. How does the short story "A Jury of Her Peers" represent the difference between the justice perspective and the care perspective in ethics? What evidence do the women remove from the crime scene? In your opinion, was it wrong for them to remove it?

Study Questions on Baier.

1. According to Baier, what are the main differences between Kant's and Hume's ethics? How do they correspond to the ethics of justice and the ethics of care?

2. On Baier's view, what is the role of reason in morality? What is the role of feeling or sentiment in morality?

3. What does Baier mean by a "progress of sentiments"? What does she mean by saying that a moral response is a "response to a response"?

4. Why is Baier concerned about the possibility of one's agreeable moral virtues are being exploited by others?

Study Questions on Friedman.

1. What does Friedman mean by saying "the genders are 'moralized' in distinctive ways"? What does she mean when she says we need to 'de-moralize' the genders?

2. What does Friedman mean by the 'different voice' hypothesis? What does she mean by the 'gender difference' hypothesis?

3. Why does Friedman believe morally adequate care involves considerations of justice? Give examples of three ways that considerations of justice play a role. How would Baier respond?

4. What does Friedman mean by the contrast between commitment to moral abstractions and commitment to particular persons?