The Intolerable Relationship

Nel Noddings ' "Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education " (1984) represents a feminist view of the car;ag teacher-pupil relationship, focusing on the personal and social setting and speaking directly about the relationship. The works of Maurice Merleau-Ponty contribute a phenomenological perspective which is universal and culturally based and, in describing human relationships, implies a point of view on the teacher-pupil relationship. An exploration of the similarities and differences between these two views yields implications for education, the two parties in the teacher-student relationship, and their shared world. Both points of view relate to the existential interpretation of life and the importance of human relationships. In both, individual choice making constructs the solution to moral dilemmas. Both include concreteness and an emphasis on defining values, formin