Idealism, Relativism, and the Ethic of Caring

TLDR

The study examined Gilligan’s 1982 theory of moral thought. The study surveyed 216 American college students, using two questionnaires to assess personal moral philosophies. Participants who endorsed an ethic of caring scored higher on idealism (r = .53), were slightly less relativistic (r = –.13), and those who were highly idealistic yet nonrelativistic most strongly endorsed caring, with no sex differences observed.

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we investigated Gilligan's (1982) theory of moral thought. Two hundred sixteen American college students (73% women and 20.5% black) completed two questionnaires designed to measure individual differences in personal moral philosophies. Analyses indicated that individuals who endorsed an ethic of caring also tended to have higher scores on the idealism scale of the Ethics Position Questionnaire, r = .53. Caring was also slightly correlated with the rejection of moral relativism, r = - .13. Individuals who espoused highly idealistic but nonrelativistic personal moral philosophies most strongly endorsed an ethic of caring. Sex differences among these students were conspicuously absent.