Abstract

This thesis is the culmination of two different areas of interests that I have had, First, I have long been interested in the progress feminist thinking has made in the field of ethics and morality. Secondly, having read A Treatise on Human Nature by David Hume, I was impressed with his insights into human nature and human morality. The impetus for bringing together these two interests came from a work by Annette Baier which identified Hume as a women's moral theorist. Her comments were based on the findings of Carol Gilligan in In a Different Voice. One of Gilligan's main assertions was that while morality for men was a matter of justice, for women it was a matter of care. My criticism of Baier however was that she maintained the moral distinctions along gender lines that Gilligan had expressed. I was more interested in de-emphasizing these gender labels and searching for a moral system that would incorporate both perspectives. I discovered that this in fact was one mode of feminist thought that had emerged in the past two years. The main proponent of this view and whose work I will largely refer to is Virginia Held. Dept. of Philosophy. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1996.S93. Source: Masterss International, Volume: 37-01, page: 0078. Adviser: J. P. Wright. Thesis --University of Windsor, 1996.