Ethical relationship

An ethical relationship, in most theories of ethics that employ the term, is a basic and trustworthy relationship that one has to another human being, that cannot necessarily be characterized in terms of any abstraction other than trust and common protection of each other's body. Honesty is very often a major focus.

Usually the most basic of these relationships studied is that between the mother and child, and second most basic is between sexual partners—the focus of feminism and Queer theory respectively, where relationships are central. Family role theory extends this to study paternalistic, maternalistic and sibling roles, and postulates that one's later relationships are formed largely in order to fill the roles one has grown to find comfortable as part of one's family environment—the family of origin thus setting pattern for the family of choice. Another type of ethical relationship is that between the student at an institution and his or her instructor. Because teaching is “leadership based upon moral and ethical principles.” The student is positioned into a role where participation means understanding and resolving multiple issues of ethics, including the actions of his or her professor or instructor.

As contrasted to theories of ethics that derive from dispute resolution, or the meta-ethics as defined in Western moral philosophy, ethical traditions emphasizing abstract moral codes expressed in some language with some judgmental hierarchy, ethical relationship theories tend to emphasize human development. Thus they focus on unequal power and such matters as sexual honesty, marital commitment, child-raising, and responsibility to conduct such essential body and care matters as toilet training, weaning, forming attitudes to sexuality and to masturbation. Failures to consider consequences of teachings or examples set in these matters is disastrous, as it leads to failures of the most fundamental relationship any person has: to their own body, shame in it, pride in it, care for it, etc. Care and concern for other's bodies follows.

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