A Methodological Foundation of a Social Ethics of Care: Refinements of 'Disaggregation' and 'Caring for Memories'

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K01985
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: International Christian University
• Principal Investigator: Kawamoto Takashi 国際基督教大学, 教養学部, 特任教授 (40137758)
• Research Collaborator: Higashi Takuma
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ケア / 社会倫理学 / 脱集計化 / 記憶の修復 / 方法論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Carol Gilligan's "an ethic of care" is based on the question "how to respond" to the complaints of each and every one who is suffering. It is the vision that everyone will be responded and included, that no one will be left alone or hurt. And "an ethic of care" was launched as a counter-conception to "an ethic of justice", which is led by the question "what is just" by surveying the whole of relevant circumstances, to come out with. However, in the ensuing "care vs. justice" debate, the ad-hock aspect of quick response to individual needs is overemphasized, and it seems that the investigation of "an ethics of care" has become somewhat elusive. In order to make up for this shortcoming, this study digged into the methodological foundation of ethic of care, by means of “disaggregation” (Amartya Sen's illuminating approach to the factors of famine) and "caring for memories", which I have learned from A-bomb survivors and their children (i.e."Hibakusha"and "Hibaku Nisei").

Free Research Field

社会倫理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果のなかで学術的かつ社会的な意義を有する作品として筆頭に挙げるべきは、東琢磨氏・仙波希望氏との共編著『忘却の記憶　広島』（月曜社2018年）である。
本書には探究の端緒をなした小文「記憶のケアから記憶の共有へ」（『思想』2004年11月号）と着想から現在にいたる歩みを総括した「「記憶のケア」を織り上げる」が収録されている。
なおこの編著には、書評（『週刊読書人』2018年12月7日および『図書新聞』2019年1月19日）や紹介記事（『中国新聞』2018年11月2日文化面）といった反響が寄せられたほか、複数の検討会・合評会がもたれ、学会誌における本格的なレビューも予定されている。