Careful Thinking

What can we learn about care from the experiences of mothers of children with disabilities? How can the writings of a medieval Christian mystic deepen our understanding of maternal love and care? Can the religious emphasis on kenosis, or self-giving love, be reconciled with a feminist perspective on care? And to what extent does the practice of intimate caregiving lead to a wider concern with equity and social justice?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Melody Escobar. Melody is a postdoctoral research associate at Baylor University, a private Christian University in Waco, Texas, where she is a research scholar for the Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability, in the Center for Developmental Disabilities, and where she lectures on religion and disability, eco-justice, and mysticism. 

Before completing her doctorate in Christian spirituality at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Melody had a career in corporate communications spanning 18 years. She has served as a Catholic lay minister for more than 10 years in various capacities and she has also worked as a chaplain resident. Melody’s research and publications in Christian spirituality and practical theology focus on families who experience disability, innovative models of ministry, and curricula advancing inclusion and belonging in academic and spiritual life.

Melody is the author of the book Revelations of Divine Care: Disability, Spirituality, and Mutual Flourishing, which was published in 2024 by Baylor University Press, as part of their Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability series.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Melody's personal, spiritual and academic journey (03:55)

Melody's experience as the mother of a child with a disability (06:00)

Equine-assisted therapy for children with disabilities (08:02)

The influence of the writings of Julian of Norwich on Melody's thinking (10:25)

The horse ring as a sacred space of community and belonging (13:55)

The importance of hospitality (17:01)

Melody's research with mothers of children with disabilities (19:10)

The importance of giving voice to mothers' experiences (25:12)

The key themes emerging from Melody's research (27:00)

Faith, spirituality, and care (29:20)

The contested role of kenotic, or self-giving love, in care (32:25)

The need for structural and policy reform to support mothers' caregiving (35:23)

The vision of maternal love in Julian of Norwich's writings (37:25)

Widening the circle of loving care (40:37)

The lessons of Melody's research for churches and faith communities (43:35)

Developments in disability theology (47:44)

Melody's forthcoming book 'Belonging Under The Bridge' (50:07)

Some of the writers and thinkers mentioned in the episode

Julian of Norwich

Philip Sheldrake

Dorothy Day

Henri Nouwen

Max van Manen

Devan Stahl

Links

Equine-assisted therapy

Catholic Worker Movement

Church Under the Bridge

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack

Careful Thinking explores ideas about care and features conversations with researchers, writers and practitioners at the cutting edge of current thinking about care. It was launched in November 2023 and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

How are the practice of art and the practice of care connected? In what ways might intellectual inquiry be a caring practice? And what part do wonder, poetry and 'unknowing' play in research - and in care?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Merel Visse. Merel is a scholar, artist, editor and educator. She holds a faculty position in the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University in New Jersey in the United States, where she chairs a master’s and doctoral degree program. Merel is also affiliated with the University of Humanistic Studies in the Netherlands, Care Ethics Chair. She serves on several editorial boards in the U.S.A. and was an artist in residence at the New York School of Visual Arts, and in 2018 at the NARS Foundation in Brooklyn. In the Netherlands, Merel co-founded the Meaningful Artistic Research Program, a collaboration between the University of Humanistic Studies and HKU University of the Arts, and with Elena Cologni at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, she co-leads the Art and Care Platform Series.

Merel is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on art, care ethics, and research methodology. She’s the Visual Art Section Editor at the International Journal of Education and the Arts, for which she and Elena Cologni recently co-edited a special issue on ‘Art for the Sake of Care’. In April, she will start serving as the co-editor of Visual Arts Research (VAR), a publication from the University of Illinois Press. In 2018, Merel co-edited the book Evaluation for a Caring Society, and in 2021 she co-authored the book A Paradigm of Care with Bob Stake. Merel and Bob recently submitted their manuscript for a mini-book on Researching Care with Case Studies to Routledge. Merel is currently focusing on the manuscript for Precarious Knowing, a project that recently expanded to include members of the 'Enduring' research group, and is set to be published by Springer.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

The roots of Merel's interest and involvement in art and care (03:48)

The 'Precarious Knowing' project (11:32)

Merel's practice as an artist (11:50)

The Meaningful Artistic Research Program (16:03)

The Art and Care Platform Series (18:59)

Special issue on 'Art for the Sake of Care' (20:45)

Relational autoethnography as a commitment to care (26:35)

Evaluation as a caring practice (30:23)

The role of wonder, 'unknowing' and the poetic in research and care (33: 52)

An 'aesthetic-apophatic' approach to qualitative inquiry (46:05)

The hospital bed as a landscape for materialised care (51:03)

Merel's forthcoming book on 'Precarious Knowing' (53:54)

Merel's collaboration with Bob Stake on 'A Paradigm of Care' and the forthcoming book 'Researching Care with Case Studies' (57:12)

A selection of Merel's journal articles

'Autoethnography as a praxis of care - the promises and pitfalls of autoethnography as a commitment to care' (with Alistair Niemeijer)

'Apophatic Inquiry: Living the Questions Themselves' (with Finn Thorbjørn Hansen and Carlo Leget)

'Sometimes, Indirect is More Direct. An Aesthetic-Apophatic Phenomenological Approach to Self-Reflexivity in Qualitative Inquiry'

'Art for the Sake of Care: Editorial Introduction' (with Elena Cologni)

Other publications referred to in the episode

François Jullien, Detour and Access: Strategies of Meaning in China and Greece

François Jullien, The Silent Transformations

Finn Thorbjørn Hansen, Solveig Botnen Eide, and Carlo Leget (eds.) Wonder, Silence and Human Flourishing: Toward a Rehumanization of Health, Education, and Welfare

Matilda Carter (ed.)The Bloomsbury Handbook of Care Ethics

Some of the writers, scholars and thinkers mentioned in the episode

Hans-Georg Gadamer

Joan Tronto

Maurice Hamington (see Episode 6)

Inge van Nistelrooij (see Episode 17)

Carlo Leget (see Episode 8)

Finn Thorbjørn Hansen

Louis van den Hengel

Jake Smit

Jamieson Webster

Nirav Christophe

Marloeke van der Vlugt

Simona Kicurovska

Andries Hiskes

Elena Cologni

Christine Leroy (see Episode 7)

James Thompson (see Episode 11)

Liora Bresler

Alistair Niemeijer

Norman K. Denzin

Robert E. Stake

Thomas Schwandt

Tineke Abma

Hanneke van der Meide

François Jullien

Donald Wijsenbek

Frans Vosman

Maria Puig de la Bellacasa

Sandra Laugier

Truus Teunissen

Jacqueline Kool

Paul Lindhout

Links

International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI)

Care Ethics Research Consortium

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.

What does it mean to 'practise presence' in caring for others? How did the theory of presence develop from research on everyday care practice? And what are the professional, organisational and political implications of presence theory and relational caring?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Andries Baart and Guus Timmerman.

Andries is Extraordinary Professor in the field of ageing and generational dynamics at North-West University in South Africa. He is also a former visiting professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the University Medical Centre Utrecht, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Humanistic Studies, Tilburg University, and Catholic Theological University Utrecht – all in the Netherlands. Andries has been one of the leading figures in the development of care ethics in the Netherland and in 2004, with others, he founded Stichting Presentie - the Presence Foundation.

Guus has worked as a care ethicist and qualitative researcher at the Presence Foundation since 2014 and has published widely on relational caring and presence in healthcare and social work, and on the methodology of qualitative research. Guus has undertaken research on the care and practical wisdom of general practitioners at the sick- and death-beds of their patients; the life-world of people in Rotterdam who use the bed-bath-bread provision for irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers; and what it is like to be a person with advanced dementia. His current research is on narrative accountability in care for older persons: giving insight to relevant interlocutors through stories.

Andries and Guus have collaborated on a new book, Relational Caring and Presence Theory in Health Care and Social Work: a Care-Ethical Perspective, which was published in December last year by Policy Press, and which forms the main focus of our conversation in this episode.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Andries' personal and professional journey to his work in care ethics (03:45)

Guus' personal and professional journey (09:15)

The life, work and influence of Frans Vosman (14:20)

The aims of Andries' and Guus' new book (19:55)

The key elements of relational caring and presence theory (23:35)

The origins of presence theory in Andries' study of outreach pastoral care (27:11)

The religious inspiration and secular relevance of presence theory, and the importance of 'exposure' in practising presence (31:18)

The theoretical roots of presence theory (34:53)

Comparing the presence approach with Joan Tronto's five-phase caring process (43:34)

The distinctiveness of the presence approach to care practice (50:07)

The relationship between presence theory and care ethics (46:55)

The organisational implications of practising presence and relational caring (52:55)

The implications of presence theory for thinking about professionalism (55:40)

How realistic is practising presence in the context of everyday care practice? (59:30)

The political implications of presence theory (01:03:30)

The work of the Presence Foundation (01:07:05)

Andries' and Guus' current work and future plans (01:09:15)

Writers, theorists and activists mentioned in the episode

Frans Vosman

Carlo Leget (see Episode 8)

Inge van Nistelrooij (see Episode 17)

Theo Beemer

Henk Manschot

Marian Verkerk

Carol Gilligan

Joan Tronto

Berenice Fisher

Nell Noddings

Sara Ruddick

Selma Sevenhuijsen

Annelies van Heijst

Maurice Hamington

Virginia Held

Daniel Engster

Sophie Bourgault

Michael Slote

Marian Barnes

Charles de Foucauld

Madeleine Delbrêl 

Dorothy Day

Jürgen Habermas 

Axel Honneth

Emmanuel Levinas

Martin Buber

Franz Rosenzweig

Jacques Derrida

Hans-George Gadamer

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Michel de Certeau

Henri Lefebvre

Thomas Biebricher

Isabell Lorey

Sharon Welch

Sandra Harding

Alastair MacIntyre

Charles Taylor

Paul Ricoeur

Gabriel Marcel

Other links

The Presence Foundation (Stichting Presentie)

The Worker-Priest movement

Catholic Worker movement

Frankfurt School

Discourse analysis

Peeters 'Ethics of Care' series

Part-Time for All: A Care Manifesto by Jennifer Nedelsky and Tom Malleson

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.

How has the legacy of conquest and colonisation shaped the educational experiences of students and teachers in New Mexico? What can educators do to enable students to bring their embodied knowledge and intergenerational wisdom into educational spaces? And in what ways are (Nuevo) Mexicana educators developing a 'revolucionista' ethic of care?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Mia Sosa-Provencio. Mia is an Associate Professor of Secondary Education in the Department of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Policy, at the University of New Mexico. She taught Language Arts for seven years at Rio Grande High School in the South Valley of Albuquerque, before studying for a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis on Critical Pedagogies, at New Mexico State University.

Mia has published widely in the field of critical education studies, with a number of recent articles seeking to develop a Mexicana/Mestiza Critical Feminist Ethic of Care, drawing on her research, which uses Testimonio methodology, with educators living and working along the U.S.-Mexico border.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Mia's cultural roots and the social, political and historical context of New Mexico (02:32)

Mia's personal experience of the US education system as a child (07:55)

The impact of Mia's experience as a high school teacher in Albuquerque (13:05)

Mia's current work preparing teachers to practice education as social justice (15:42)

The ways in which care is excluded from educational spaces (19:48)

Mia's ethnographic research with Mexicana/Mestiza educators using Testimonio methodology (20:55)

Learning from Rosa's and Diana's narratives about ways of embodying a revolucionista ethic of care (26:15)

Towards a critical feminist ethic of care (34:12)

Developing an 'in the flesh' ethic of care: the importance of body and land (39:11)

The role of humour and play in creating a social justice revolución (49:17)

Mia's ongoing work and her hopes for its impact on policy and practice (01:01:04)

A selection of Mia's publications

'A Revolucionista Ethic of Care: Four Mexicana Educators' Subterraneous Social Justice Revolución of Fighting and Feeding'

'Seeking a Mexicana/Mestiza Critical Feminist Ethic of Care: Diana's Revolución of Body and Being'

'Seeking a Mexicana/Mestiza Ethic of Care: Rosa's Revolución of carrying alongside'

'Curriculum of the Mestiza/o Body: Living and Learning Through a Corporal Landscape of Resistance and (Re)generation'

'Tu eres mi otro yo/You Are My Other Me: An In-The-Flesh Ethic of Care Centering Body and Emotionality as Speaking Subjects Fostering Dignity, Interconnection, and Racialized Healing'

'Seeking a Culturally Relevant Ethic of Care for Mexican/Mexican American Youth: A Revolucionista Ethic of Care and its Wily, Tactical Mechanism of Humor' (forthcoming)

Scholars, writers and activists mentioned in the episode

Gloria Anzaldúa

Beverly E Cross

Vanessa Siddle Walker

Dolores Delgado Bernal

Aida Hurtado

Chela Sandoval

Lourdes Diaz Soto

Maurice Hamington (see Episode 6)

Nell Noddings

Maria Lugones

Cherríe Moraga

Sarah Munawar (see Episode 13)

Other links

Latina Feminist Group

Pensamiento Serpentino ('In Lak'ech' - poem)

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.

What has been the impact of recent attempts to regulate surrogacy in India? How do surrogate mothers view their participation in the process? Can feminist care ethics, and specifically an understanding of care as labour, contribute to a better understanding of surrogacy? And what are the strengths and weaknesses of the radical feminist case against surrogacy?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode with Priya Sharma. Priya recently took up a position as an Assistant Professor in the Humanities and Social Science at T A Pai Management Institute, on the Bengalaru Campus of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, in India. She has an academic background in anthropology, sociology and philosophy, and practical experience of working with a variety of social justice movements. Priya’s doctoral research at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, where she was until recently a postdoctoral fellow, developed a care ethical perspective on surrogacy regulation in India.

Building on her doctoral work, Priya has published an article, with her supervisor Amrita Banerjee, on ‘Animating the Affect–Care–Labor Link in the Wake of “The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill”: Care Ethics and Policymaking on Indian Surrogacy’ in the journal Hypatia, and she has contributed a chapter entitled ‘Whose Ethos?: A Case of Indian Surrogacy law and its Moral Bedrock’ to the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Gender and Reproduction. Priya is also currently co-editing a volume on Technology, Mothering, and Care Ethics in the Peeters Ethics of Care series, and is a guest editor for a journal special issue on Critical Midwifery Studies.

Please note that the sound quality of this episode is less than ideal in places, due to a poor internet connection, so listeners may wish to refer to the transcript (link below) to aid understanding.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Priya's academic background and the origins of her interest in reproductive care (02:54)

Understanding surrogacy in the Indian context (09:50)

The regulation of surrogacy in India (17:16)

Priya's ethnographic research with surrogate women (22:32)

The influence of feminist care ethics on Priya's work on reproductive care (33:29)

The radical feminist critique of surrogacy and Priya's response (46:00)

Priya's work with Birth Futures and the Critical Midwifery Studies Collective (56:20)

Priya's plans for further research on surrogacy and reproductive care (01:05:09)

Some of the writers, researchers, professionals and activists mentioned in the episode:

Amrita Banerjee

Kushal Deb

Ira Chadha-Sridhar (see Episode 15)

Maitrayee Chaudhuri

Maurice Hamington (see Episode 6)

Nayana Patel

Kanchana Mahadevan

Joan Tronto

Sarah Ruddick

Nell Noddings

Eva Kittay

Amrita Pande

Sharmila Rudrappa

Jennifer Parks

Sophie Lewis

Inge van Nistelrooij (see Episode 17)

Rodante van der Waal

Asha Achuthan

Susana Ku Carbonell

Romina Gallardo

Marjolein Pijnappels

Amritha Warrier

Publications mentioned in the episode

Joan Tronto, Moral Boundaries and Caring Democracy

Sarah Ruddick, Maternal Thinking

Rodante van der Waal, Birth Justice: From Obstetric Violence to Abolitionist Care

Links

Sama - Resource Group for Women and Health

Stop Surrogacy Now

Dalit feminism

Birth Futures

Critical Midwifery Studies Collective

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.

Is self-sacrifice a vital component of care for others, or does a feminist ethic of care make it problematic? Is caring something that we choose to do, or a responsibility that is given to us? And how can care ethics provide a framework for promoting reproductive justice?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Inge van Nistelrooij. Inge is a care ethicist, based in the Netherlands. She currently works as a self-employed ethicist with care organisations, as a consultant for professional care practices, as an ethics educator for professional teams, and as a facilitator of ethical reflection and ethical case deliberation. She is also a part-time Associate Professor of Care Ethics at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. Inge studied for a doctorate in Theology at the University of Tilburg with Annelies von Heijst, and her prize-winning thesis was published in book form in 1996 as Martha and Mary Revisited: Care as Ethical Perspective. Inge then spent a number of years working for religious organisations and as an ethics trainer, and also as an ethics policy advisor in care organisations, publishing in 2008 The Basic Book of Care Ethics, a book for care workers in nursing, social work, spiritual care and medical professions, a revised version of which came out in 2022. Inge went on to study for a PhD at the University of Humanistic Studies, with Frans Vosman, and her thesis was published in book form in 2014 as Sacrifice: A Care Ethical Reappraisal of Sacrifice and Self-Sacrifice. Since then, Inge has published widely in the field of care ethics, on subjects such as empathy and relationality, with a recent focus on pregnancy and childbirth. She was one of the co-editors of the 2022 collection Care Ethics, Religion and Spiritual Traditions, and she is co editor of the book Recommitting to Reproduction: Shifting Care Ethics Towards Reproductive Justice, which will be published next year. Inge's Dutch-language monograph Baarzaam: Basisboek Zorgethiek voor zwangerschap, geboortezorg en ouderschap (‘Basic book - Care ethics for pregnancy, maternity care and parenthood’) is also planned for 2025.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Inge's journey from theology to care ethics (03:16)

The influence of Annelies van Heijst (07:33)

Inge's work with care organisations (12:07)

Inge's doctoral research on sacrifice and self-sacrifice in care (16:18)

Literary representations of self-sacrifice (21:20)

The influence of feminist theology on Inge's thinking (29:00)

Jean-Luc Marion on givenness and responsibility (34:05)

Paul Ricoeur on identity as narrative (40:10)

Obstetric violence and reproductive care (42:17)

Maternity and feminist care ethics (48:17)

Inge's forthcoming publications on care ethics and reproductive justice (52:20)

A selection of Inge's recent publications

'Reimagining relationality for reproductive care: understanding obstetric violence as "separation"'

'The Undercommons of Childbirth and Their Abolitionist Ethic of Care. A Study into Obstetric Violence Among Mothers, Midwives (in Training), and Doulas'

'Shroud Waving Self Determination, A Qualitative Analysis of the Moral and Epistemic Dimensions of Obstetric Violence in the Netherlands'

Other publications discussed in the episode

Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace

Some of the thinkers, writers and researchers mentioned in the episode

Annelies van Heijst

Frans Vosman

Emmanuel Levinas

Catharina Halkes

Jean-Luc Marion

Emmanuel Housset

Axel Honneth

Paul Ricoeur

Merel Visse

Sophie Bourgault

Barbara Duden

Andrea O'Reilly

Rodante van der Waal

Marit van der Pijl

Femmianne Bredewold

Links

Care Ethics Research Consortium

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.

What are the physical, psychological and spiritual benefits of caring for others? How does caregiving benefit society, and what could society do to value care more? In what ways does care change men, and how can we encourage men to participate more in caregiving? And how are care and spirituality connected?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Elissa Strauss. Elissa is a journalist, essayist, and opinion writer, based in Oakland, California, who has been writing about the culture and politics of care for fifteen years. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times and The Atlantic, and she has been a contributing writer for CNN and Slate, where her articles have focussed on feminism and motherhood. In addition to her work as a writer, Elissa is also an artistic director of LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture.

Elissa's book, When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others, was published earlier this year to widespread acclaim. Reviewers have described the book as 'brilliantly argued and timely', 'urgent and necessary', and 'destined to be a modern classic'.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

How Elissa got started as a writer (02:10)

Why Elissa wrote When You Care (03:18)

The main message of the book (07:50)

Discovering meaning and purpose through caregiving (09:38)

The social, political and economic value of care (13:48)

The ambivalent image of motherhood and caregiving in feminist literature (20:55)

Breaking down the 'glass doors' : building a feminism of care (25:58)

The forgotten history of care feminism and its lessons for today(29:20)

Men and care (33:36)

The physical and psychological benefits of caregiving (40:43)

Elissa's discovery of feminist care ethics (46:14)

Care and spirituality (50:55)

The need for political and cultural change to support caregiving (58:00)

Elissa's plans for future research and writing (01:01:30)

Elissa's recent articles

'I hated the story of Abraham and Isaac - until I became a mother', Kveller

'The branch of philosophy all parents should know', The Atlantic

Other publications discussed in the episode

Rachel Cusk, A Life's Work

Nell Noddings, Caring

Some of the writers, thinkers and activists mentioned in the episode

Eva Feder Kittay

Carol Gilligan

Sheryl Sandberg

Johnnie Tillmon

John Rawls

Phyllis Deane

Other links

'Made with Care' (Elissa's Substack newsletter)

'Young men, masculinity and wellbeing' (Martin's research with Promundo)

Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Jusitice (formerly Promundo)

Eshet Chayil (traditional Jewish poem/song)

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack

How are our duties to care, and to obey the law, connected? What can care ethics contribute to an understanding of important questions in medical and family law? What does it mean to describe care as a 'thick ethical concept'? And what are the factors that make caring actions 'good'?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Ira Chadha-Sridhar. Ira is the Hatton-WYNG Junior Research Fellow in Law, Medicine and Life Sciences at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge. She has a BA.LLB (Honours) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, and an LLM from Cambridge University, where she was recently awarded a PhD for her thesis entitled ‘A Care Ethical Theory of Political Obligation'.

Ira’s research interests lie at the intersections of law and philosophy. She’s particularly interested in the ethics of care and its relationship with questions about the law: both within jurisprudence, and within areas of legal doctrine, such as medical law and family law. Ira’s current research project focusses on care ethics and its intersection with doctrinal questions in medical law. 

Ira’s publications include a number of articles written while she was still a student in India, for example on the ethics of care in maternity laws, and critical feminist reflections on the laws around shared parenting. In 2021 she published an article on ‘The Value of Vagueness: A Feminist Analysis’ in The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, while 2023 saw the publication of her article on ‘Care as a Thick Ethical Concept’ in Res Publica. Ira is currently working on a monograph, in which she plans to develop a conceptual account of care, encompassing a descriptive theory of caring actions and a care-evaluation framework. This framework aims to make substantial contributions to ongoing discussions in doctrinal medical law and public health policy.

We explore the following topics in this episode:

The origins of Ira's interest in the law (02:58)

Feminism as an early influence on Ira's thinking (04:54)

Ira's introduction to care ethics (06:08)

An overview of Ira's doctoral research (08:40)

Care ethics and political obligation (10:45)

Is care ethics a feminist ethic? (12:52)

The contribution of a new generation of thinkers to care ethics (15:25)

The relationship between care ethics and legal and political philosophy (17:23)

Care ethics, particularism and moral principles (19:25)

Care as a thick ethical concept (23:40)

Care ethics and analytic philosophy (27:33)

Care and 'good' care (30:46)

Positive, negative and neutral caring actions (32:57)

The factors that make caring actions 'good' (36:43)

Ira's current research on medical law and care ethics (39:26)

Some of the writers and thinkers mentioned in the episode

Amrita Banerjee

Virginia Held

Joan Tronto

Daniel Engster

Steven Steyl (see Episode 10)

Stephanie Collins

Bernard Williams

Philippa Foot

Iris Murdoch

Jonathan Herring

Some of the publications discussed in the episode

Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development

Cynthia A. Stark, 'Abstraction and Justification in Moral Theory'

Steven Steyl, 'A Care Ethical Theory of Right Action'

Stephanie Collins, The Core of Care Ethics

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack

What role do emotions play in individual and societal wellbeing? How can we ensure that we are emotionally present in caregiving and in our professional lives? What is the difference between true and 'empty' empathy? And what can phenomenology, and philosophical ideas generally, contribute to the development of an ethic of love, or an ethic of care?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Susi Ferrarello. Susi is an associate professor at California State University, East Bay. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from La Sapienza University in Rome, an MA in Human Rights and Political Science from the University of Bologna, and a PhD in Philosophy from the Sorbonne in Paris. Susi has held professorships at La Sapienza, the Florence University of the Arts, Lucerne University, and Loyola University in Chicago, and she has lectured widely in Europe and the United States.

Susi’s areas of interest include phenomenology, moral psychology, practical ethics, the philosophical foundations of psychological praxis, and ancient philosophy. Susi is also a philosophical counsellor, with more than ten years’ experience of consulting in Italy, Switzerland and the United States.

Susi's many books include The Phenomenology of Sex, Love and Intimacy, published in 2019; Human Emotions and the Origins of Bioethics and The Role of Bioethics in Emotional Problems, both from 2021; and The Ethics of Love: Emotional Dilemmas for a Relational Life, which came out in 2023. She has also edited or co-edited a number of books, including Empathy and Ethics in 2022, and The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Mindfulness in 2023. The Phenomenology of Pregnancy and Early Motherhood: Ethical, Social, and Psychological Perspectives will be published in December 2024. Susi writes a regular blog, ‘Lying On The Philosopher’s Couch’, in Psychology Today magazine, and she is the host of the ‘Philosophy Gets Personal’ podcast. She recently launched No Bump, No Care?, an online pregnancy and motherhood support project.

We explore the following topics in this episode:

Susi's academic journey and formation (03:09)

Susi's work as a philosophical counsellor (07:40)

Emotions and bioethics (11:12)

Emotions in professional life (17:58)

Encouraging empathy in caregiving: the example of care for women who have experienced miscarriage (24:04)

The gender bias in pain management (31:44)

Intercorporeality and interaffectivity (36:10)

Bioethics and everyday emotional problems (42:66)

Ancient myths as resources for understanding contemporary relational dilemmas (46:40)

Susi's reflections on personal emotional experience in her writing (50:50)

Love, care and self-care (52:50)

A phenomenological ethic of love (56:22)

From kindness to tenderness (01:01:03)

Susi's current work on pregnancy and perinatal loss (01:05:17)

Links

Susi's Youtube channel

Susi's counselling practice

Some of the thinkers and writers mentioned in the episode

Aristotle

Edmund Husserl

Martin Heidegger

Van Rensselaer Potter

Lou Marinoff

Tomie Hahn

Nicole Miglio

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.