Care and justice: Two sides of the same coin of a critical care ethics in social work

Ever since Gilligan (1982) and Noddings (1984) began to talk about an ethic of care as a distinct moral theory that differed from traditional ethics of justice, discussions have continued to be sparked around these ideas. Some scholars argue that there are strong conceptual differences between the two ways of thinking about and enacting ethics, and that they do not align. Others claim that an ethic of care has always been inherent in traditional ethical theory. In this chapter, I examine some of these conflicting ideas and build an argument in support of views held by Meagher and Parton (2004) and Gray (2010), that care and justice are not only compatible, but they are also interdependent ethical concepts that need to be given equal consideration for social work practice.