María Puig de la Bellacasa, Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds

This article begins by examining James Beattie's conception of speculative ethics, which he regards as the study of the foundation and nature of virtue. This leads to a discussion of the moral sense, or conscience, which Beattie claims is part of the nature of every rational being and which is designed to lead us to a virtuous life. Given this, I ask why Beattie thought himself warranted, or even needed, to dispense practical ethical advice. Answering this involves looking at Beattie's views on the importance of proper education, as well as the role played by his acceptance of providential naturalism. Beattie's answer is not only consistent with his ‘lecturing others’ as to their practical duties, his understanding of the relation between the speculative and the practical also allows him to respond to what contemporary ethicists call the Application Problem. A comparison with Reid's ethical thought will help bring out this latter point.

Download Full-text

Beyond speculative ethics in HRI?

Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Human-robot interaction - HRI '11 ◽

10.1145/1957656.1957726 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sara Ljungblad ◽

Stina Nylander ◽

Mie Nørgaard

Keyword(s):

Speculative Ethics

Download Full-text

Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds (Review)

10.31235/osf.io/78kch ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew James Shapiro

Keyword(s):

Marketing Strategies ◽

Speculative Ethics ◽

The Ideal

“Care? Why should I care about care?” This question, raised by one of María Puig de la Bellacasa’s colleagues, is one that could be reasonably posed by any critical scholar. Care is, after all, a deeply fraught concept. Historically, the ideal of caretaking has been used to justify women’s domestic confinement and their lack of remuneration. More recently, it’s been coopted by corporations in their altruistic marketing strategies (think “CBS Cares” or “Chase Cares” or “Nordstrom Cares”). Taking seriously care’s ambivalent, non-innocent character, Matters of Care offers a praiseworthy posthumanist intervention into the politics of caring, working to recuperate care from the trappings of neoliberal biopolitics.

Download Full-text