Annette Baier’s “The Need for More than Justice”

Topic: Justice Words: 324 Pages: 1

Table of Contents

Introduction
Care Must Be Prioritized Over Justice
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

Justice is a quite vague concept that is perceived and utilized by people differently. Due to its ambiguity, it sometimes leads to misunderstanding and dissonances. Annette Baier explains that men and women perceive the world divergently and have varied values, which leads to considerable differences in their attitudes and morality. Annette Baier’s main idea in her article The Need for More than Justice is that “care” must be prioritized over justice and should be integrated into everyday life for males and females.

Care Must Be Prioritized Over Justice

In her article, Baier writes about justice and how it differs between men and women. She states that males and females diverge in their concepts of right and wrong and have different values. Men see the world as something more materialistic; they divide people into different categories and then bound morality to human rights according to what category a person belongs to. Women focus on profound connections with others and building rapport; their morality is more based on empathy and care. The ethical system is missing “care” because the majority of philosophers were men who did not value it, so Baier offers to concentrate on it (Baier 42). The author reckons that any person must be cared about equally, no matter what status or gender they are. Thus, Baier’s main idea in the article is to make the world a better place by integrating care instead of justice because it is a more concrete and accurate concept. She elaborates on why this is crucial and what should be done.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the philosopher’s main idea is that “care” must be the foundation of any society. It is a quite clear concept, which may be integrated into everyday life. She claims that it must be applied to both women and men. Baier seems to be a person of virtue who aims to make the world a better place, which is why she wrote her article.

Work Cited

Baier, Annette. “The Need for More than Justice.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 17, no. 1, 1987, pp. 41-56, DOI: 10.1080/00455091.1987.10715928.