Contribution to Book
Knowledge, Competency and Care
Evaluation for A Caring Society
(2018)
Abstract
After offering a definition of a performative and political care ethics, this chapter offers a two-source knowledge structure that includes both concrete and generalized knowledge as a prerequisite for care. Although concrete knowledge—the particular, local knowledge of the one cared for--dominates the care literature, generalized knowledge—skills and information that can be used across different individuals--is the most commonly referred to attribute of the competent professional. However, in this chapter I claim that both generalized and concrete knowledge are essential to competent care. Bringing this two-part epistemic lens to care ethics reframes caring away from the exclusive considerations of what occurs within dyadic relationships to include reliable social evidence thus introducing a significant “third party” to the experience of quality care. In other words, the one caring is not just responsive to the particular one cared for but must also engage social and scientific understanding of what it means to care. The two-source claim for care knowledge has implications for all forms of effective care, but this chapter pays particular attention to the delivery and assessment of professionals. Given the two-source theory of caring knowledge, the discussion then turns to assessing care along concrete and generalized dimensions.
Keywords
- care ethics,
- evaluation,
- epistemology
Disciplines
Publication Date
2018
Editor
Merel Visse and Tineke Abma
Publisher
Information Age Publishing
Citation Information
Maurice Hamington. "Knowledge, Competency and Care" Evaluation for A Caring Society (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/maurice_hamington/48/