Virginia Held

Virginia Potter Held (October 28, 1929 – May 26, 2026) was an American moral, social, political and feminist philosopher whose work on the ethics of care sparked significant research into the ethical dimensions of providing care for others and critiques of the traditional roles of women in society.

Education and career Held received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1968 and worked at Hunter College as lecturer (1965–69), assistant professor (1969–72), associate professor (1973–77), and full professor from 1977 until her retirement in 2001. Held was affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center in 1973, and served as deputy executive officer of the Philosophy program at the CUNY Graduate Center from 1980 to 1984. She also served as president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2001–2002.

She was named Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York – Graduate Center and Hunter College in 1996.

Held defended care ethics as a moral framework distinct from Kantian, utilitarian, and virtue ethics.

Her work on the morality of political violence viewed through the window of the ethics of care has also been significantly influential.

Personal life and death Held was born in Mendham, New Jersey, on October 28, 1929, and died on May 26, 2026, at the age of 96.

Selected works

Books

Chapters in books

Journal articles

Encyclopedia articles Feminism and Political Theory in The Blackwell Guide to Social and Political Philosophy

Rights: Moral and Legal from A Companion to Feminist Philosophy Feminist Social and Political Philosophy in Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement (1997). "Power" in Blackwell Dictionary of Business Ethics Mass Media, Moral Pluralism in Encyclopedia of Ethics

For further works see C.V.