Episode 15

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Published on:

15th Oct 2024

Care ethics, philosophy, and the law - with Ira Chadha-Sridhar

How are our duties to care, and to obey the law, connected? What can care ethics contribute to an understanding of important questions in medical and family law? What does it mean to describe care as a 'thick ethical concept'? And what are the factors that make caring actions 'good'?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Ira Chadha-Sridhar. Ira is the Hatton-WYNG Junior Research Fellow in Law, Medicine and Life Sciences at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge. She has a BA.LLB (Honours) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, and an LLM from Cambridge University, where she was recently awarded a PhD for her thesis entitled ‘A Care Ethical Theory of Political Obligation'.

Ira’s research interests lie at the intersections of law and philosophy. She’s particularly interested in the ethics of care and its relationship with questions about the law: both within jurisprudence, and within areas of legal doctrine, such as medical law and family law. Ira’s current research project focusses on care ethics and its intersection with doctrinal questions in medical law. 

Ira’s publications include a number of articles written while she was still a student in India, for example on the ethics of care in maternity laws, and critical feminist reflections on the laws around shared parenting. In 2021 she published an article on ‘The Value of Vagueness: A Feminist Analysis’ in The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, while 2023 saw the publication of her article on ‘Care as a Thick Ethical Concept’ in Res Publica. Ira is currently working on a monograph, in which she plans to develop a conceptual account of care, encompassing a descriptive theory of caring actions and a care-evaluation framework. This framework aims to make substantial contributions to ongoing discussions in doctrinal medical law and public health policy.

We explore the following topics in this episode:

The origins of Ira's interest in the law (02:58)

Feminism as an early influence on Ira's thinking (04:54)

Ira's introduction to care ethics (06:08)

An overview of Ira's doctoral research (08:40)

Care ethics and political obligation (10:45)

Is care ethics a feminist ethic? (12:52)

The contribution of a new generation of thinkers to care ethics (15:25)

The relationship between care ethics and legal and political philosophy (17:23)

Care ethics, particularism and moral principles (19:25)

Care as a thick ethical concept (23:40)

Care ethics and analytic philosophy (27:33)

Care and 'good' care (30:46)

Positive, negative and neutral caring actions (32:57)

The factors that make caring actions 'good' (36:43)

Ira's current research on medical law and care ethics (39:26)

Some of the writers and thinkers mentioned in the episode

Amrita Banerjee

Virginia Held

Joan Tronto

Daniel Engster

Steven Steyl (see Episode 10)

Stephanie Collins

Bernard Williams

Philippa Foot

Iris Murdoch

Jonathan Herring

Some of the publications discussed in the episode

Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development

Cynthia A. Stark, 'Abstraction and Justification in Moral Theory'

Steven Steyl, 'A Care Ethical Theory of Right Action'

Stephanie Collins, The Core of Care Ethics

For a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack

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About the Podcast

Careful Thinking
Exploring ideas about care
At some point in our lives, we will all have the experience of caring for another person - or of being cared for ourselves. But what exactly is ‘care’, and what do we mean by ‘good’ care? How do our beliefs, identities, and the social, cultural and political contexts in which we live, shape our experience of caring or being cared for? And how can ideas, theories, and the findings from research, help us to think more care-fully – and to care more thoughtfully?

Careful Thinking explores these and similar questions, inspired by a belief that thinking critically about care can both deepen our understanding and improve the everyday practice of care. In each episode of the podcast, you'll hear an in-depth conversation with a researcher, writer or practitioner at the cutting edge of current thinking about care.

If you would like to give us your feedback, or suggest a guest or a topic for a future episode, you can get in touch at carefulthinkingpodcast@gmail.com. And you can leave comments on episodes and join in the discussion at https://carefulthinking.substack.com.

About your host

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Martin Robb

Martin Robb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care at The Open University (UK), where his research has focused on men, masculinities and care. He is the author of 'Men, Masculinities and the Care of Children: Images, Ideas and Identities' (2020) and the co-editor of 'Men and Loss: New Perspectives on Bereavement, Grief and Masculinity' (2024).