“Loving Attention” in Murdoch, Smith, and the Ethics of Care

In the first section, we briefly present the essential elements of Murdoch’s ethics. In the second section we do the same for Adam Smith, in order to show in the third section both their similarities and the analysis they inspire. Although these coincidences may at first appear to be accidental due to the distance between these authors, they cease to appear so when we realize that these authors conceived of morality in a relational way, which is one of the indispensable elements of the ethics of care. Studying the proposals of these philosophers, then, reveals some of the essential features of a viable ethics of care.