Carol Gilligan
contemporaryFeminist Philosophy, Ethics of Careb. 1936
Carol Gilligan (b. 1936) is an American feminist moral philosopher and developmental psychologist best known for challenging androcentric models of moral reasoning. Her landmark 1982 work 'In a Different Voice' argued that dominant theories of moral development were built on male experience and overlooked a relational, care-based mode of ethical reasoning. She is the founding theorist of the ethics of care and a central figure in feminist philosophy and psychology.
Notable Achievements
1
Authored 'In a Different Voice' (1982), establishing the ethics of care as a distinct moral framework
2
Critiqued Kohlberg's stages of moral development for systematic gender bias
3
Founded the Harvard Project on Women's Psychology and Girls' Development
4
Developed care ethics as a relational alternative to Kantian and utilitarian justice frameworks
5
Pioneered feminist standpoint methodology in moral psychology and philosophy