The ethic of care or the moral imperative to act justly is offered as an ethical
compass to guide nurses. Nurses are inspired to adopt the ethic of care into
their practice and into their everyday lives as a lived virtue. A connection is
drawn between the theoretical premises of feminism, humanism, phenomenology
and the ethic of care, because they each pay attention to the contextual
features of people’s lives. Critics of the ethic of care are respectfully
challenged. A convincing argument is made that sensing the needs of others
is as important as being able to use universal maxims to deal with moral issues.
Something new is proposed that goes beyond what was previously believed
to be central to this important subject matter. It is recommended that
the practice of the ethic of care be informed by knowledge derived from additional
sources. For example, the multi-faceted components of care, sound
moral principles and the values and ethical responsibilities as laid out by the
Canadian Nursing Association (CNA) Code of Ethics, are all considered as
crucial and relevant to ethical decision making. Special attention is paid to
the notions of compassion, generosity, unconditional positive regard and
presencing and a heartfelt narrative is used to illustrate the lived practice of
compassion. The chapter ends with a case study where a student nurse is
assigned the challenge of caring for a client diagnosed with a catatonic type
of schizophrenia. Critical thinking questions are posed in relation to this
real life story.
Keywords: Esthetics, Logic, Metaphysics, Nursing ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Ethic of
care, Feminist philosophy, Humanism, Phenomenology, Virtue ethics, Acceptance,
Alternating Rhythms, Caring-Concern, Compassion, Courage, Empathy,
Generosity, Genuineness, Hope, Humility, Knowing, Patience,
Presencing, Trust, Unconditional Positive Regard, Warmth
