Under the direction of Professor Ana Marta González (University of Navarra), the Social Trends Institute held a weekend-long Experts Meeting to focus on the caring professions. The tensions that have arisen within the practice of care in recent history have been dramatic, so much so, in fact, that they have prompted the development of an “Ethics of Care,” a theory that stresses the foundational nature of relationships. Giving a formidable challenge to modern moral approaches and the cultures that give expression to them, the ethics of care ask all persons to reconsider just how far individualism can be takenand whether or not situations of profound dependency highlight, in a special way, the pitfalls and failures of some modern sensibilities.
While the cultures of the developed world largely emphasize individual autonomy, modern developed societies are increasingly becoming marked by the escalation of situations of dependency.This phenomenon prompts an all important question for these societies, especially those with aging populations: How can we harmonize our modern self-consciousness as independent human beings with the fact that we are dependent and need to be cared for? In other words, how can we harmonize care for individuals with respect for individuals?
