Virginia Held
How does Held's approach to social contract theory "take the view of women"?
"Economic man" is concerned first and foremost to maximize his own, individually considered interests. "Economic man", however, fails to represent all persons in all times and places. In particular, it fails to adequately represent children and those who provide them with the care they require, who have historically been women. The model of "economic man" cannot, therefore, fairly claim to be a general representation of all persons.
What does it mean to take the relation between mother and child to be the "primary social relation?
-The most important relationship in society is the one between a mother and child, therefore it can be used to show how relationships can work between adults or governments. -can offer a new way to conceptually understand the relationship between an individual, her society and her government
Held lists six ways in which the mother/child relationship is different from the relationship between self-interested, rational individuals; what are they?
1. non-voluntary, in multiple sense, therefore non-contractual 2. permanent and non-replaceable 3. radical inequalities 4. obligations cannot be fulfilled by "leaving people alone" 5. a rethought notion of privacy, individuality, and self-hood 6. moral theory-dependence, vulnerability, needs, and the particularity of other persons
How does Held's account of our obligations to other people differ from those of Nozick?
Held believes that the desire to reinstate a concern with the concrete material conditions of human communal existence is more of an obligation.
How does Held's assumptions about the nature of the "original position" differ from those of Rawls?
Her own work, by contrast, stresses the ethical importance of "here and now" perception and action, flesh and blood humans over abstract calculators and, in general, reflection on experience over fiddling with constructs of reason; the work may be considered part of a more general "anti-theoretical'' trend in contemporary ethics.
