A Session on Feminist Moral Philosophy with Hossein Bayat and Omid Keshmiri

The ethics of care refers to an approach in ethics that encompasses a wide range of perspectives highlighting the role of gender in morality. However, a common spirit can be found among all these accounts, which is a rethinking of conventional ethics/moral philosophy, which, according to these thinkers, is a masculine philosophy in need of critique and modification. The various accounts and approaches in feminist moral philosophy are built upon several key principles:

1. The centrality of human relationships Care ethics is founded upon human relationships and social interactions, and instead of focusing on abstract, universal, and general principles, it attends to the specific and unique needs of individuals in close, everyday relationships. In other words, in care ethics, attention to the details and specific circumstances of each relationship is of central importance, and in this respect, the approach draws close, both metaphysically and epistemologically, to the particularist position in metaethics.

2. Attention to moral sentiments and emotions Attention to the feelings, needs, and experiences of others not only does not hinder or pose a problem for moral knowledge but is fundamentally morally relevant and is the focus of attention. This means that in moral decision-making, the emotional and social needs of others must be considered within a relational network.

3. The morality of care Care ethics is based on the crucial point that caring for and supporting others is not only a human and instinctive act but also a moral act and falls under the category of thick moral virtues. This approach believes that caring for others should be considered a fundamental and central moral value at the heart of moral thought.

4. Emphasis on women's experiences In this approach, women's experiences and perspectives hold central importance in ethics. According to thinkers in this field, in many societies, women's traditional roles as caregivers and nurturers have been unjustly ignored, and these experiences can offer new perspectives on ethics and responsibility. According to the view of thinkers in this field, a considerable portion of moral experiences and intuitions has been ignored due to the imposition and dominance of patriarchal systems, and this neglect has caused the current moral intuitions and experiences of human beings to suffer from serious deficiencies. For example, the excessive emphasis on rights and justice has constricted the space for virtues such as caring, tending, compassion, and kindness; virtues that, unlike masculine virtues (such as the extreme emphasis on rights, justice, and courage), bring human beings closer to one another.

In this session, which was held through the efforts and hosting of the "Iranian City of Philosophy" institute on October 25, 2024, Hossein Bayat and Omid Keshmiri elucidated and explained some of the central components of this perspective.

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Listen to the audio on Spotify | Castbox

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