Feminism, faith and healthcare ethics - with Ruth Groenhout

Careful Thinking

What are some of the connections - and tensions - between feminism, religious faith and healthcare ethics? In what ways does a feminist ethic of care offer an alternative to the dominant tradition in Western philosophy? And what can care ethics contribute to some of the difficult debates in contemporary healthcare, for example around new reproductive technologies and assisted dying?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Ruth Groenhout, a Distinguished Professor of Health Ethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Ruth's research in healthcare ethics has focussed on issues of gender, health systems and organisations, and health policy. She has published widely on care ethics, bioethics, feminism and faith, and her many books include Connected Lives: Human Nature and an Ethics of Care (2004), Bioethics: a Reformed Look at Life and Death Choice (2009) and Care Ethics and Social Structures in Medicine (2019).

We cover the following topics in this episode:

The origins of Ruth's interest in healthcare ethics (02:14)

Feminism and faith as key influences on Ruth's thinking about care (05:20)

Connected Lives (06:20)

Care ethics as an alternative philosophical perspective on what makes us human (07:30)

Feminist care ethicists who have shaped Ruth's thinking (09:49)

St. Augustine, Emmanuel Levinas and care theory (12:35)

Human flourishing as an ethical ideal for care (21:55)

Contemporary dilemmas in health care (25:25)

The limitations of evidence-based practice (31:15)

The ethics of healthcare economics (33:15)

End-of-life care (35:45)

Patient power (39:30)

Forgiveness and care (42:33)

Ruth's current work and forthcoming publications (46:15)

Links to a selection of Ruth's publications

Philosophy, Feminism and Faith

Connected Lives: Human Nature and an Ethics of Care

Bioethics: a Reformed Look at Life and Death Choices

Care Ethics and Social Structures in Medicine

'Care Ethics and Forgiveness: Lessons and Errors from the Christian Tradition' in Care Ethics, Religion and Spiritual Traditions

(links to Ruth's forthcoming publications will be added soon)

Some of the writers and thinkers mentioned in this episode

Nell Noddings

Eva Feder Kittay

Joan Tronto

Virginia Held

Sara Ruddick

Martin Buber

St. Augustine

Emmanuel Levinas

You can download a transcript of this episode by following this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.