Dependency Relations as a Starting Point for Justice

Abstract

have a choice if she's not well positioned financially? Loves Labor challenges a political system that makes those situations threatening for many women and that puts the responsibility more on them than on men. The book also criticizes contemporary philosophical theories of equality and justice for ignoring the unique social position of people who care for dependents. With profound wisdom, clarity, and compassion, Eva Feder Kittay envisions a social world that acknowledges the inevitability of and that truly values what she calls dependency The book is divided into three parts. The first discusses the nature of relations and their moral dimensions. The second gives a dependency critique of John Rawls's highly influential theory of justice, amending that theory accordingly. The third-the most practical section-argues for the reform of social policies in the United States that determine the conditions of work. That section also indudes reflections on Kittay's own experience mothering a child with a severe disability. I thoroughly enjoyed almost every word. What interested me most, though, were the theoretical sections, where Kittay follows a familiar feminist line of criticism against mainstream theories of justice and equality but in a way that is unique and ultimately persuasive. Philosophical theories of justice and equality commonly take as a starting point a conception of human beings as rational and equally empowered individuals. They then ground principles of justice or equality in that conception. Kittay positions herself, by contrast, among feminist theorists such as Annette Baier