Veatch R M
Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 20057, USA.
J Med Philos. 1998 Apr;23(2):210-24. doi: 10.1076/jmep.23.2.210.8925.
The concept of care and a related ethical theory of care have emerged as increasingly important in biomedical ethics. This essay outlines a series of questions about the conceptualization of care and its place in ethical theory. First, it considers the possibility that care should be conceptualized as an alternative principle of right action; then as a virtue, a cluster of virtues, or as a synonym for virtue theory. The implications for various interpretations of the debate of the relation of care and justice are then explored, suggesting three possible meanings for that contrast. Next, the possibility that care theorists are taking up the debate over the relation between principles and cases is considered. Finally, it is suggested that care theorists may be pressing for consideration of an entirely new question in moral theory: the assessment of the normative appropriateness of relationships. Issues needing to be addressed in an ethic of relationships are suggested.
关怀概念以及与之相关的关怀伦理理论在生物医学伦理学中已变得愈发重要。本文概述了一系列关于关怀概念的构想及其在伦理理论中的地位的问题。首先，探讨了将关怀概念化为正确行为的替代原则的可能性；接着探讨了将其视为一种美德、一组美德或者美德理论同义词的可能性。随后探究了对关怀与正义关系辩论的各种解读所产生的影响，提出了该对比的三种可能含义。接下来，思考了关怀理论家参与原则与案例关系辩论的可能性。最后，指出关怀理论家可能在促使人们考虑道德理论中一个全新的问题：对人际关系规范适当性的评估。文中还提出了人际关系伦理中需要解决的问题。
