In the electoral campaign for the Presidency, ethics constitutes one of the principal topics. And here there is no place for Pharisaic stuff, in the sense of, on the one hand, claiming to embody ethics, and on the other, committing ethical abuses. Both candidates need to say their mea culpas, and recognize the grave ethical abuses of their respective political parties. The risk exists that ethics becomes private, this is to say, that ethics are only discussed in politics, rather than discussing the ethics of politics. In other words, the existence of politicians with recognized personal virtues, with ethics, (ethics in politics) is not enough; what is important is that debates about the ethics of politics prevail. This deals with the institutional framework that makes citizens live certain values fundamental for society. It is important above all to discuss the ethical character of the vision of a candidate; to what degree it breaks with the tradition of privileges that has characterized Brazilian politics, and what measures will be taken to promote justice and inclusion for the millions of dispossessed. This is the heart of the question. The citizens have the right to know the political projects of each candidate and how they will be carried out. In that way they can see if their character is ethical, or not.

As an attempt to encourage this debate I would like to mention a recent discussion between two ethical paradigms: between the nucleus of classic morality, the ethics of justice, and the nucleus of the new morality, the ethics of caring. I have participated in this reflection, which was begun by North American feminist philosophers and educators, especially by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings. They made us aware of the fact that the reflections on ethics in the West, inherited from the Greeks, passing through Thomas Aquinas, Kant; culminating with Habermas, are markedly masculine. They center on the autonomy of the individual, carrier of rights and duties, with the impartiality of justice as the structuring axis.

This ethic has reached dimensions that are hard to relinquish, both in the interpersonal, and in the social. But in that ethic there is an impoverishment of human experience, because it does not include the contribution of women. Women are closer to the mystery of life, they are more cooperative by nature, they more adequately knit the nets of affectionate family and community relations, nourishing the concern for others and taking into account human weaknesses and processes of development little contemplated by the ethics of justice. For human life to function, it is not enough to have equality of rights and duties and that both be observed. Caring is also needed, because every living being wants and needs to be cared for, and we feel a natural impulse to care. Hence solidarity, co-responsibility and compassion, are outgrowths of caring.

The anthropological basis of the ethic of the feminine is distinct. It does not contemplate an isolated individual, who needs a social contract to live in community with others, but rather that the individual is always connected with the other, and with nature. The motivation to live one's values, and with that an ethical life, does not come from reason or from principles, but from the emotion of affection, and of self-implication. The natural desire to be cared for, accepted and loved, something that has been ignored by the current ethic, is what moves our lives profoundly.

President Lula has repeated several times that to carry out politics is to care for the people and to listen to their needs. To accomplish this is to put justice into practice. This is the criterion for ethically judging the visions of the two candidates.
- Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian

(Translation: Volar , Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas)