Final answer:
Carol Gilligan identified the perspective of justice as emphasizing abstract principles and the perspective of care as focusing on relationships and empathy. She argued against Kohlberg's justice-focused moral theory, advocating for the inclusion of the care perspective as equally important in moral development.
Step-by-step explanation:
Carol Gilligan identified two different perspectives in moral reasoning: the perspective of justice and the perspective of care. These differ in that the perspective of justice emphasizes abstract principles, autonomy, and applying these universal norms, whereas the perspective of care focuses on relationships, empathy, and the specific needs of others. Suggesting a difference in moral reasoning between genders, men often tend toward the justice perspective while women lean more towards the care perspective. However, Gilligan argued that neither perspective is inherently "better," but rather they serve different purposes in society. Boys are often socialized for environments where rules make operations run smoothly (justice perspective), and girls are socialized for environments where flexibility and nurturing are important (care perspective).
Gilligan's critique of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development was that it primarily reflected the justice perspective and overlooked the ethics of care, which she believed held significant moral value, stressing the importance of compassion and the nurturing aspect of relationships in moral development. She proposed that an ethics of care is vital to ideal moral thought, challenging traditional male-oriented ethics of justice and advocating for recognition of the moral depth in women and children's approach to ethical dilemmas.