Listening to the Human Voice: Carol Gilligan

Abstract

The present paper highlights Carol Gilligan's theoretical contributions to moral psychology and feminist ethics, tracing the transition from the framework of a different voice to the articulation of a human voice. The analysis highlights dominant models of moral development have traditionally prioritised a masculine, justice-oriented paradigm marginalising care, relationality, and embodiment. Building on Gilligan's broader theoretical framework, the discussion reconstructs moral development around the integration of care and justice, thought and feeling, self and relationship. The paper situates this reframing within the history of moral development and care ethics, reframes the critique of the patriarchal psychic split, and emphasises significance of the role of voice and listening in sustaining relational integrity. The main argument is that moral development attains its fullest expression when both men and women move beyond the false dichotomies imposed by patriarchal systems—separating justice from care, reason from emotion, self from relationship—and instead develop a human voice that integrates all these dimensions, enhanced and upheld through voice and listening in relational integrity.