Role played by the ethics of care in nursing ethics

Abstract

This study raises the issue of whether the ethics of care provide a practical perspective for nursing. Some authors consider the ethics of care appropriate to express essential nursing requirements and incorporate them into their theories, whereas others have criticized their use in nursing. However, many of these discussions appear to pay attention to only a part of the issue, and not the ethics of care as a whole set of rules. This paper is focused on one of the discussions in the ethics of care that has been given little attention in nursing, i.e., the ethical elements in the aspects of care proposed by Tronto. By comparing these elements with the principlism of Beauchamp and Childress, it is suggested that the ethics of care fruitfully contribute to nursing ethics.