The Ethics and Politics of Care in Times of Crises

Abstract

This essay is based on The Global Ethics of Care round-table discussion which was organized by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade in June 2021. The idea for organizing a discussion on this topic emerged as all societies were, and still are, facing a myriad of pressing moral and political issues that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 triggered or, perhaps more precisely, intensified in a dramatic and abrupt way. If it had not been obvious before, indeed, the (ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fact that human beings are needy and vulnerable creatures who depend on one another for physical and emotional care; speaking quite generally, moreover, it deepened various pre-existing inequalities both within and between sovereign states. What are the implications of recognizing human neediness, vulnerability, dependence and interdependence for the ways in which individuals act, the manner in which many societies are currently organized as well as existing domestic and international political practice? What do the values of freedom, equality and care require in times of crises on both the individual and the collective level? Can the ethics of care revitalize our moral commitment to equal human worth as well as to a decent life for all? In this essay, we explore and attempt to provide answers to these and other pertinent questions from the standpoint of the ethics and politics of care.