Virginia Held


Virginia Potter Held is a leading moral, social/political and feminist philosopher whose work on the ethics of care sparked significant research into the ethical dimensions of providing care for others and critiques of the traditional roles of women in society.

Beliefs

Held defends care ethics as a moral framework distinct from Kantian, utilitarian and virtue ethics. She holds that care is fundamental to human institutes and practices, indeed to our survival. Tong and Williams quote: "There can be no jutice without care…for without care no child would survive and there would be no persons to respect.".
Held's work on the morality of political violence viewed through the window of ethics of care has also been significantly influential.

Career

Held was named Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York – Graduate Center and Hunter College in 1996.
She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1968 and worked at Hunter College as lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and full professor from 1977 to her retirement in 2001. Held was affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center in 1973, and served as deputy executive officer of the Philosophy program at the CUNY Graduate Center from 1980–1984. She also served as president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2001–2002.

Selected works

Books

For further works see C.V.