Knowra Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan is an American psychologist and ethicist whose work challenged accounts of moral development centered on justice and introduced the ethics of care as a distinct moral perspective.
Lawrence Kohlberg : An American psychologist who developed a stage theory of moral development based largely on interviews with boys and men. Gilligan criticized his theory for treating justice-centered reasoning as the primary measure of moral maturity.
Ethics of Care : An ethical approach that emphasizes relationships, responsiveness, and responsibilities to particular people. Gilligan’s work helped establish care as a distinct perspective on moral reasoning.
Gender Bias in Psychology : The systematic distortion of psychological theories or findings through assumptions about gender. Gilligan argued that theories built from male-centered samples could misrepresent women’s moral development.
Justice Ethics : An ethical approach that emphasizes impartial rules, rights, and fair treatment. Gilligan contrasted its abstract principles with moral reasoning grounded in care and relationships.
Moral Development : The development of the capacities and reasoning involved in making moral judgments. Gilligan entered this field by challenging how its dominant theories defined moral growth.
Justice : The principle of giving people their due through fair rules, rights, and impartial treatment. Gilligan contrasted justice-focused reasoning with attention to relationships and responsibilities.
Feminist Ethics : Ethical inquiry shaped by feminist analysis of gender, power, and social relationships. Gilligan’s work broadened feminist challenges to supposedly universal moral standards.
Universalism : The view that moral principles apply universally, independently of particular relationships or circumstances. Her attention to context questioned whether moral judgment can be reduced to universal rules.
Moral Judgment Interview : A structured interview developed by Lawrence Kohlberg to assess moral reasoning through responses to dilemmas. Gilligan’s critique questioned conclusions drawn from this interview’s original, male-centered research samples.
Moral Reasoning : The process of thinking through what is right or wrong and why. Gilligan studied how people reason about moral conflicts, not only which judgments they reach.
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