Justice and CaringOne of the most important and controversial contributions made by feminism to political thought in recent decades involves the work of Carol Gilligan, who developed the claim that there is an approach to morality and social relations this contrasts sharply with that which is based on justice and individual rights of the kind characteristic of traditional (liberal) theory. The “caring” perspective – a moral orientation that focuses on the value of maintaining relationships, assuming interpersonal responsibilities, expressing appropriate emotions and affects, and so on – has been proposed as a moral orientation uniquely related to experience and psychology of women. , but which has been relegated to a secondary status in traditional theories of moral development. Gilligan's work suggests that women tend to think more in terms of care and responsibility when considering a moral problem than in terms of impersonal rights and justice, and that the moral and political principles expressed in the latter terms have essentially silenced women's voices (Gilligan 1982, Gilligan et al. 1988, Brown and Gilligan 1992). Gilligan questioned the dominant view of psychological development that placed the ability to think in terms of universal and impersonal principles at the pinnacle of moral thought, arguing that this reflected the male tendency to value separation, objectivity and autonomy over connection and relationships. Normative principles expressed in terms of justice presuppose such capacities to detach oneself from personal ties and to act according to universal moral principles based on autonomy. Many women, however, tend to approach normative issues in a way that is very sensitive to obligations to concrete others... half of the paper... crucial in promoting such caring relationships (particularly with regard to children) might lead to supporting government policies that facilitate family life. But which families? Heterosexual families? The so-called "nuclear" family, where the two parents are married and raise the biological offspring? There are multiple typologies of care relationships and any reference to a particular typology in the justification of state policy always runs the risk of valorizing only one particular conception to the detriment of others (see Kymlicka 1991). The argument for the priority of law, whatever version we ultimately want to stick to, is based on respect for pluralist conceptions of the good, so feminist demands for the recognition and promotion of moral values ​​associated with women should be accepted, but only in a form that remains consistent with this respect.