<P> Tronto states there are four ethical elements of care: </P> <Ol> <Li> Attentiveness Attentiveness is crucial to the ethics of care because care requires a recognition of others' needs in order to respond to them . The question which arises is the distinction between ignorance and inattentiveness . Tronto poses this question as such, "But when is ignorance simply ignorance, and when is it inattentiveness"? </Li> <Li> Responsibility In order to care, we must take it upon ourselves, thus responsibility . The problem associated with this second ethical element of responsibility is the question of obligation . Obligation is often, if not already, tied to pre-established societal and cultural norms and roles . Tronto makes the effort to differentiate the terms "responsibility" and "obligation" with regards to the ethic of care . Responsibility is ambiguous, whereas obligation refers to situations where action or reaction is due, such as the case of a legal contract . This ambiguity allows for ebb and flow in and between class structures and gender roles, and to other socially constructed roles that would bind responsibility to those only befitting of those roles . </Li> <Li> Competence To provide care also means competency . One cannot simply acknowledge the need to care, accept the responsibility, but not follow through with enough adequacy - as such action would result in the need of care not being met . </Li> <Li> Responsiveness This refers to the "responsiveness of the care receiver to the care". Tronto states, "Responsiveness signals an important moral problem within care: by its nature, care is concerned with conditions of vulnerability and inequality". She further argues responsiveness does not equal reciprocity . Rather, it is another method to understand vulnerability and inequality by understanding what has been expressed by those in the vulnerable position, as opposed to re-imagining oneself in a similar situation . </Li> </Ol> <Li> Attentiveness Attentiveness is crucial to the ethics of care because care requires a recognition of others' needs in order to respond to them . The question which arises is the distinction between ignorance and inattentiveness . Tronto poses this question as such, "But when is ignorance simply ignorance, and when is it inattentiveness"? </Li> <Li> Responsibility In order to care, we must take it upon ourselves, thus responsibility . The problem associated with this second ethical element of responsibility is the question of obligation . Obligation is often, if not already, tied to pre-established societal and cultural norms and roles . Tronto makes the effort to differentiate the terms "responsibility" and "obligation" with regards to the ethic of care . Responsibility is ambiguous, whereas obligation refers to situations where action or reaction is due, such as the case of a legal contract . This ambiguity allows for ebb and flow in and between class structures and gender roles, and to other socially constructed roles that would bind responsibility to those only befitting of those roles . </Li>

What does doing the right thing mean from the perspective of an ethic of care