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Liberalism with Care: The Complementarity of Liberalism and Care Ethics

Kim, Donghye
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3282-9791
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1651586679519874

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
Liberalism has traditionally been suspicious of considering the concept of care as a political principle fit for the public realm. Against this current, I propose a Liberalism with Care (LWC) where liberalism and care ethics lie in a complementary relationship. A liberalism that ignores the place of care in political life falls victim to two immanent critiques, of liberal subjectivity and liberal understanding. I argue that liberalism can best respond to these critiques by incorporating a principle of care which is a synthesis of care ethics and Dewey’s affective epistemology. To locate a latent commitment to care in the liberal canon, I present a novel reading of John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism and his collected works where I argue that a commitment to the cultivation of caring characters is a linchpin of his liberal utilitarianism. Mill’s caring liberal utilitarianism also reveals the dangers of scaling up care to the public realm, and I consider reasons for why contemporary liberalism would rather prefer the concept of civic friendship than care as a political principle. I conclude that LWC dispels these concerns and better addresses the problems of liberalism than liberal skeptics often assume. Finally, I consider how our understanding of intersubjective boundaries can be reimagined into a caring view of boundaries. Considering two political events, one in South Korea and one in Nevada, I argue that the caring view of boundaries helps us avoid the unsatisfying features of existing accounts.
Eric MacGilvray (Advisor)
Benjamin McKean (Committee Member)
Michael Neblo (Committee Member)
197 p.
Epistemology; Ethics; Philosophy; Political Science; Sociology; Theology
Liberalism; Care ethics; John Stuart Mill; John Dewey; Political Theory; Political Philosophy; Normative Theory; Epistemology; Critical Theory; Agonism.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kim, D. (2022). Liberalism with Care: The Complementarity of Liberalism and Care Ethics [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1651586679519874

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kim, Donghye. Liberalism with Care: The Complementarity of Liberalism and Care Ethics . 2022. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1651586679519874.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kim, Donghye. "Liberalism with Care: The Complementarity of Liberalism and Care Ethics ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1651586679519874

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1651586679519874
437
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.