The August 14, 2024 edition of this newsletter cited Gilligan’s reminder that “The different voice (the voice of care ethics) is a human voice,” along with bell hooks’ reminder that “we desperately need an ethic of love to intervene in our self-centered longing for change.”
Perhaps some Americans disagree with Gilligan’s and hooks’ views, and don’t see or value the need for a care ethics or an ethic of love. Perhaps some find more pleasure than sadness or outrage in the mocking of a son’s love for his father. Perhaps democracy—even (or especially) the corporatized version in the U.S.—is just too messy, and authoritarianism is the way to go. Perhaps.
Recommendation: Listen to this 11-minute October 2023 interview with Carol Gilligan (and download a PDF of the Epilogue to In a Human Voice), in which she provides a quick overview of the “Heinz dilemma” and how girls and boys are acculturated—alluded to above.
Something to Consider: At a talk at Iona College (now University) in the late 1980s/early 1990s, award-winning educator Will Keim said (something like) this: When we finally have a woman for president, we will still go to war, but we’ll go to a lot fewer of them. Do you agree with that? What’s the basis for your agreement or disagreement?
Voice, Gender, Human