Author: Frans Vosman

Frans Vosman

Prof. dr. Frans Vosman studied moral theology and philosophy at Nijmegen University and did a doctorate on economical ethics in Paris and Rome. Professor Louis Vereecke was his promotor. He was engaged in medical ethics before he took interest in the ethics of care, at Tilburg University, where he was professor ethics of care. He held a chair ethics of care at the University of Humanistics, Utrecht. He was interested in combining conceptual and empirical ethics and in the fundamental political character of the ethics of care. Together with colleagues he did research in a general hospital about patients perspectives and research with regard to people with an intellectual disability. He focused on the ethics of care as a form of fundamental political ethics, He considered the connections with other forms of political ethics, with epistemology and political forms of phenomenology to be quintessential. Frans Vosman died in June, 2020

Taking Refuge in the Arts

The richness and complexity of the article ‘Taking Refuge in the Arts’ by care ethicist Frans Vosman († 2020), is conveyed through a dense text which is sometimes difficult to  fully grasp. Its richness only becomes apparent upon repeated reading. In an introduction to this article, web editor Jeannet van de Kamp ties together different strands in his work, leading up to the thoughts expressed in the article.
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The moral relevance of lived experience

As care ethics tries to value the particular bodily experience of patients and caregivers it is by no means very clear how to do so. Recently a book was published by Steven C. van den Heuvel et al., Theological ethics and moral value Phenomena (Routledge, 2018). You are welcome to read a sample: On the basis of an observation of a care scene in the complexity of a general hospital, Frans Vosman proposes to use political phenomenology to address those experiences. He criticizes bioethics for its abstraction of experience. As an alternative, he suggests discovering Gestalt-like figures in care scenes. Continue reading The moral relevance of lived experience

The disenchantment of care ethics. A critical cartography

As commemorated on our website, care-ethicist Frans Vosman passed away on June 10th, 2020. He leaves us his intellectual heritage. Here we highlight an article featuring in a recently published book, as part of the peer-reviewed Series Ethics of Care.

Continue reading The disenchantment of care ethics. A critical cartography

Biebricher on neoliberalism

Is caring indeed establishing the very possibility to live together in a humane way? As care ethics has reflected on the presuppositions of a caring democracy it often has confronted neoliberalism, with its emphasis on the market instead of the state, as the hindrance par excellence to a caring well ordered society (e.g. Tronto,Barnes; in a different way Brugère). Continue reading Biebricher on neoliberalism