Book Notice (reviewing Robin West, Caring For Justice (1997))

Michael T. Cahill, Brooklyn Law School

Abstract

This Book Notice discusses Robin West's Caring for Justice, which posits essential differences between male morality (which West describes as the "ethic of justice") and female morality (the "ethic of care") and argues that the law pays insufficient regard to the latter perspective. The Notice finds West's book provocative and often compelling, but also points to some unexplained or ambiguous aspects of the definitions of justice and care, the dynamic between them, and the empirical origins and normative force of the caring ethic.