Time of care

Another way of being in the world

Abstract

Who was preparing Adam Smith's supper? Right at the beginning, in 'Tiempo de Cuidados', Victoria Camps takes up the question that titles Katrine Marçal's book and thus begins her considerations on society, humanism, the city, civic-mindedness and ethics. 'Tiempo de Cuidados' is a book in which criticism and hope converge in the expectation of seeking - not a perfect society - but a better one. The hope lies in the proposal of a change of ethos, in which a new ethical perspective should be realistic. Criticism starts from many interrelated perceptions, all of which are based on care as an essential element of all human societies, a concept that should be understood as both a right and a duty. Moreover, and here Camps takes up Carol Gilligan's work, care belongs to the universe of the human, and not to the feminine, as is traditionally held in the patriarchal vision.  Vitoria Camps does not present solutions, but paths. Paths that go around education, equity and the recovery of fraternity, and that could lead to a human experience in which the concept of well-being is relearned, changing, at least a little, the balance between individual freedom and responsibility.