Paying attention to attention: care and humanism

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how one's conception of the other may inform moral understanding. It attempts to argue that the account of the other and of the role ethics ascribes him/her in business or in society must be informed by a certain “attention” to others.Design/methodology/approachTo demonstrate this point, the paper starts with recalling the debate between the ethics of care and the ethics of justice. Then, it challenges the common conception of moral agency in English speaking moral philosophy. The paper then demonstrates how moral understanding is informed by the idea that others are an absolute limit to will and how conception of attention is interdependent with the awareness that others are one's fellows in humanity.FindingsThis paper shows that the traditional conception of moral agency does not allow one to understand why the idea that others are an absolute limit to the will is essential to the understanding of morality and why it plays a crucial role in ethical life. The paper argues that the traditional conception of moral agency understands morality as something based on an independently graspable conception of human nature. Against this idea, the paper argues that one's awareness that others are one's fellows in humanity is interdependent with the moral understanding and with the attention payed to them.Originality/valueThe paper challenges some basic assumptions of business ethics and of corporate social responsibility.