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Caring Actions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2020

Steven Steyl Open the ORCID record for Steven Steyl [Opens in a new window]
Steven Steyl*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, The University of Notre Dame, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Corresponding author. stevensteyl@hotmail.com
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Abstract

Though the literature on care ethics has mushroomed in recent years, much remains to be said about several important topics therein. One of these is action. In this article, I draw on Anscombean philosophy of action to develop a kind of meta- or proto-ethical theory of caring actions. I begin by showing how the fragmentary philosophy of action offered by care ethicists meshes with Elizabeth Anscombe's broader philosophy of action, and argue that Anscombe's philosophy of action offers a useful scaffold for a theory of caring actions. Following this, I defend an account of caring actions as those that aim to meet needs. I argue that care aims at satisfying eudaimonistic needs, those things without which one cannot flourish. I then consider the place of caring actions in care ethics. I suggest that if caring actions are to be a starting point for an ethical theory, we ought to reject the notion that a caring action must bring about its intended consequences, and I show how the concept of practice better equips us to evaluate caring actions.

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Articles
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Hypatia , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , Spring 2020 , pp. 279 - 297
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Copyright © by Hypatia, Inc. 2020

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