Abstract

The philosophy of care entertains a critical relation to the philosophical tradition. It is characterized by contextualism, the precedence accorded to vulnerability with respect to mastery, and a democratic claim against authoritarian discourses. I will show the scope of this new arrival by developing first of all a “pathetics” of care which accords due importance to feelings, imaginations, relationships, and vulnerability. I will then explore a “pragmatics” of care, which emphasizes the centrality to care of language games, the role accorded to narratives and to counter-narratives, and the play between narrative and experience. Finally, I will present a “hermeneutics” of care which draws on a conflict of interpretations with regard to the way in which care is thought. The philosophy of care may thereby enter into discussion with the history of philosophy, whose concepts of agape, solicitude and attention may be seen to anticipate the concept of care.