IMPARTIAL PRINCIPLE AND MORAL CONTEXT - SECURING A PLACE FOR THE PARTICULAR IN ETHICAL THEORY

This essay critically assesses two strategies of accommodation used by defenders of impartialism in ethics to argue that the care orientatio n represents no genuine challenge to impartialist theoretical paradigm s. One strategy focuses on impartiality as a constraint on moral delib eration, the other as a constraint on moral justification. While highl ighting respects in which the commitment to impartiality is more conso nant with the care orientation than many advocates of care have acknow ledged, this essay attempts to clarify crucial ways in which each acco mmodationist strategy fails, thus locating some of the more important contributions and challenges the care orientation offers to moral theo ry.