Written below is an article that may be benifical. Choose two of the questions inthe attachment and answer them. The response should be 60-100 words.

Written below is an article that may be benifical. Choose two of the questions inthe attachment and answer them. The response should be 60-100 words.

Virginia Held – “Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory” – A Summary
Held argues that the history of moral philosophy is deeply infected by male bias, so
much so that even the main concepts of the discipline reflect a lack of respect for women’s
experiences. In particular, Held discusses three broad ideas in moral philosophy that she
finds particularly problematic from a feminist perspective. The first is the traditional
conception of the relationship between reason and emotion. Many philosophers have held
that reason should play a primary role in ethics, either by discovering universal moral
principles, or impartially calculating the costs and benefits of various actions. Against this,
Held argues for giving the emotions a prominent role in our moral lives, especially the
emotions of care that accompany close relationships.
Second, Held criticizes the traditional interpretation of the distinction between the
public and the private. On this conception, “the public realm is seen as the distinctively
human realm in which man transcends his animal nature, while the private realm of the
household is seen as the natural region in which women merely reproduce the species.”
Held objects to this conception, and argues that motherhood equally “transcends animal
nature,” especially insofar as it involves helping children to develop as moral beings. Held
finds the relationship of care implicit in motherhood to be of particular moral importance,
and regards traditional moral philosophy as deficient for neglecting it.
Finally, Held critiques the common conception of the self as a rational individual,
independent and largely self-interested. She argues that close attention to the experiences
of women yields a conception of the self as deeply enmeshed in particular relationships in
which self-interest and altruism are no longer easy to distinguish. Given these three
instances of male bias, Held argues, moral philosophy is in need of a radical transformation
to take adequate account of the experiences of women.

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