Giustizia: cura, salute e disabilità. Ripensare la giustizia secondo una prospettiva femminista

Justice is at the core of European identity.Through the history of Western philosophy, justice has always been considered as a virtue or a practice concerning the human as a rational being. Moreover, within the liberal egalitarianism of the XIX century, justice has been connected to the notion of person defined as an independent and self-sufficient being. Therefore, independence and productivity are conceived as the main criteria of belonging, as equal citizens, fully cooperating, to a liberal, well-ordered, society. Where is in this moral conception – in which independence is conceived as normative – the place for those whose rational capacities are impaired and for disable or ill people? Starting from this question and referring to today’s European crisis of social justice, my article aims to rethink the idea of justice in connection with human dependence and health through a feminist perspective. My main references are the work of Eva Feder Kittay Love’s Labor and her article When Caring is Just and Justice is Caring: Justice and Mental Retardation. The ethics of care can help us to develop a new approach to justice in the consideration of the whole human experience in which dependence and vulnerability are undeniable features.

Keywords: Justice; Care; Dependence; Vulnerability; Disability.