Does Care Need Completing?

Abstract

Feminist, disability, and other theorists have long expressed concerns about the seeming paternalism implicit in care. In Learning from my daughter , Eva Kittay aims to put these concerns to rest. Exploring more fully than previous care theorists the final phase of caregiving, she argues that good care requires “completion,” by which she means explicit or implicit subjective endorsement by the care receiver of the goods or benefits the caregiver provides them. Insofar as subjective endorsement is necessary for good care, good care by definition cannot be paternalistic. This article argues, however, that Kittay’s attempt to distinguish care from paternalism is mired in problems. It does not provide a reliable standard for distinguishing good care from bad or even effective protection against paternalistic abuse. In place of Kittay’s completion standard, I defend an objective standard of good care based on Stephen Darwall’s theory of rational care but amended to include insights from care theorists about the importance of attentiveness, responsiveness, and respect in the practice of good care. Overall, the article clarifies the standards of good care with particular attention to the danger of paternalism implicit in it.