The Ethics Of Need: Agency, Dignity, And Obligation

The Ethics Of Need: Agency, Dignity, And Obligation

Synopsis

In this book, Sarah Clark Miller illuminates the philosophical importance of the notion of need and constructs an ethical framework through which we can determine which needs have moral significance. She synthesizes insights from Kantian and feminist ethics to establish that our inescapable interdependence gives rise to a duty to care for the fundamental needs of others. We are obligated not merely to meet others' needs, but to do so in a manner that expresses "dignifying care," a concept Miller originates to capture how human interactions can grant or deny equal moral standing and inclusion in a moral community. Miller argues that meeting others' needs also entails bolstering their agency, understood in a broad way that moves beyond the conventional identification of agency with rational capacity and foregrounds human emotional and relational abilities. She illustrates these theoretical developments by examining two cases where urgent needs require a caring and dignifying response: the needs of the elderly and the needs of distant strangers.The work as a whole provides a compelling case for the moral significance of human need, a central, yet undertheorized concept in ethics. ???

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