THE INDIVIDUAL REIMAGINED: INVESTIGATING RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH DEWEY AND A FEMINIST ETHICS OF CARE
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Date
2023
Authors
Georis, Aaron
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Contemporary social and political spaces often engage questions of freedom, ranging from abstract musing on free will and causality to significant political debates about the relationship between individuals and the state. However, seldom do these debates go to the fundamental problem at hand, namely, what defines the relationship between the individual and liberty? This thesis will explore how this fundamental relationship has been engaged in order to come to a morally robust understanding of our position as individuals in the world. This paper argues—in contrast to many current understandings—that the individual is not a primary ontological status, but rather develops out of natural interdependences that shape our organic relationship with various environments; by demonstrating this point, it will become clear that questions of liberty must be oriented towards addressing our engagement and responsibilities in an interdependent world. This paper develops this problem by engaging the work of John Dewey—specifically his grasping of ontology and resulting moral framework—as well as the field of feminist care ethics. By offering a synthesis of these two fields, what is developed is a self-reflecting ethical framework that is principled on the natural interdependencies of human ontology and is therefore prepared to wholly engage how responsibility relates to us as engaged individuals.
Description
56 pages
Keywords
Ethics, Responsibility, Individual, Dewey, Feminist