3 A Feminist Ethics Response to the Skeptic

AbstractThis chapter examines three responses to the action skeptic offered by care ethicists who reject self‐interest based contractarianism for reasons relating to its assumption of abstract individualism. The most promising retains the traditional picture of the skeptic, but offers an internalist reason for acting morally that necessarily connects a reason for acting in a caring way with acting from the motive of care. The chapter argues that since this motive cashes out under patriarchy in ways that recapitulate women's oppression, we should also reject this attempt to defeat the action skeptic. This chapter challenges the skeptic's endorsement of expected utility because it does not exclude deformed desires as irrational, and questions whether we need to defeat motive skepticism, and whether we need a fuller account of justification than expected utility allows that squares with a richer account of morality than self‐interest based contractarianism.