Care and personal relationships are at the heart of numerous human encounters. Mainstream ethical theories such as contractualism and utilitarianism are not always able to adequately reflect the normative relevance of this fact. This book analyses contemporary approaches to an ethics of care that promise to overcome this shortcoming. It is argued that important complementary insights can be gained from the philosophy and ethics of »the Other» as devised by Emmanuel Levinas. As an example of how such a broadened approach to ethics of care can be set to work, a closer look is taken at the practice of surrogate motherhood and its ethical implications.
