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The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 15.2 (2001) 105-121



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Jane Addams and a Politics of Embodied Care

Maurice Hamington
University of Oregon


In Reweaving the Social Fabric: Pragmatism and Feminism, Charlene Haddock Seigfried claims that, "[i]t is this pervasive concern with the most pressing issues of the day, with the intention of radically transforming the conditions responsible for suffering and oppression, that contribute to the attraction pragmatism holds for feminism" (1996, 233-34). Seigfried's sentiment aptly describes the relationship between care ethics and pragmatism. Care ethics is named and evolved from feminist experience, but has often been criticized for a lack of a viable social dimension that addresses the contentious issues that grip the national and international arena: war, hunger, inequitable power systems, and so on. Pragmatism, and in particular, as I will argue, the work of Jane Addams, can infuse into care ethics a means for confronting social and political issues while maintaining the emotive and relational dimensions that make it such an important contribution to moral philosophy.

I contend that the writings and activism of the American pragmatist Jane Addams (1860-1935) not only exemplify modern feminist care ethics but also contribute particular practices necessary for a political philosophy of caring. Care is less concerned with the adjudication of individual acts and more concerned with the maintenance of right relationships in particular contexts. Care is both complex, because it is unlike other theories of morality in that it does not delineate universal norms, and a common disposition that pervades the human condition. Although she predates the contemporary feminist discourse on care by a half century, Addams employed what I refer to as embodied care. The term "embodied care" is an acknowledgment of the central role played by the body in the process of caring. Addams's continuity with care ethicists can be seen in her notions of sympathetic knowledge, her relational [End Page 105] approach to morality, and her valorization of context and experience. As we examine the habits and practices of Addams's politics of care, embodiment will emerge as a significant theme. I will begin with a brief introduction to Addams.

Jane Addams

You are not like the rest of us, who see the truth and try to express it. You inhabit reality.

--William James to Jane Addams

Addams's accomplishments would be remarkable under any circumstances, but given that her achievements occurred at a time when the separation of private and public spheres gave few women social leadership opportunities (or even the opportunity to vote), they are truly spectacular. Addams helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Woman's Peace Party. Her efforts to help poor immigrants and to establish child labor laws, as well as her efforts on behalf of world peace and for women's suffrage brought her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She is perhaps most closely associated the founding of Hull House (with Ellen Gates Starr) in Chicago in 1889.

Hull House was the flagship of the settlement movement that tried to overcome the disconnections created by class and race in large urban areas. While Addams intended Hull House to be a place where the privileged and educated could live and work among the poor in a community dedicated to the betterment of the neighborhood, it never was a highly structured organization. Hull House evolved and responded to the needs of the community. One of its important roles was as an epistemological portal into urban life. Addams did not just "go to work" at Hull House, she lived there with a community of college-educated men and women who wanted to make a difference. Visitors included John Dewey, Susan B. Anthony, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Richard T. Ely, and a who's who list of progressive intellectuals and politicians. The intellectual and cultural life created by the Hull House community was much like that of a university except for its open and free access. Addams's Hull House experience will be significant as we address...

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