NEL NODDINGS

Noddings received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physical science from Montclair
State College in New Jersey, a master's degree in mathematics from Rutgers University, and a
Ph.D. in education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Nel Noddings worked in many areas of the education system. She spent seventeen years as an
elementary and high school mathematics teacher and school administrator, before earning her
PhD and beginning work as an academic in the fields of philosophy of education, theory of
education and ethics, specifically moral education and ethics of care. She became a member of
the Stanford faculty in 1977, and was the Jacks Professor of Child Education from 1992 until
1998. While at Stanford University she received awards for teaching excellence in 1981, 1982
and 1997, and was the associate dean or acting dean of the School of Education for four years.
After leaving Stanford University, she held positions at Columbia University and Colgate
University. She is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society and the John Dewey
Society. In 2002-2003 she held the John W. Porter Chair in Urban Education at Eastern Michigan
University. She has been Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University
since she retired in 1998.
Nel Noddings has 10 children, 39 grandchildren, and over 20 great- grandchildren, many of
whom are highly educated and educators themselves. In 2012 she lost her husband of over 60
years to cancer.
She has described her early educational experiences and her close relationships as key in her
development of her philosophical position.
Ethics of Care
The ethics of care is a normative ethical theory that holds that moral action centers on
interpersonal relationships and care or benevolence as a virtue. EoC is one of a cluster of
normative ethical theories that were developed by feminists in the second half of the twentieth
century. While consequentialist and deontological ethical theories emphasize generalizable
standards and impartiality, ethics of care emphasize the importance of response to the
individual. The distinction between the general and the individual is reflected in their different
moral questions: "what is just?" versus "how to respond?.Gilligan criticizes the application of
generalized standards as "morally problematic, since it breeds moral blindness or indifference.
Some beliefs of the theory are basic:
1. Persons are understood to have varying degrees of dependence and interdependence
on one another.
2. Individuals impacted by the consequences of one's choices deserve consideration in
proportion to their vulnerability.
3. Details determine how to safeguard and promote the interests of those involved.