ERIKSSON’S THEORY ON CARITATIVE CARING

MAJOR CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS

Caritas

Caritas means love and charity. In caritas, eros and agapé are united, and caritas is by nature
unconditional love. Caritas, which is the fundamental motive of caring science, also constitutes
the motive for all caring. It means that caring is an endeavor to mediate faith, hope, and love
through tending, playing, and learning.

Caring communion

Caring communion constitutes the context of the meaning of caring and is the structure
that determines caring reality. Caring gets its distinctive character through caring communion
(Eriksson, 1990). It is a form of intimate connection that characterizes caring. Caring
communion requires meeting in time and space, an absolute, lasting presence (Eriksson,
1992c). Caring communion is characterized by intensity and vitality, and by warmth, closeness,
rest, respect, honesty, and tolerance. It cannot be taken for granted but pre-supposes a
conscious effort to be with the other. Caring communion is seen as the source of strength and
meaning in caring. Eriksson (1990) writes in Pro Caritate, referring to Lévinas:

Entering into communion implies creating opportunities for the other—to be able to step
out of the enclosure of his/her own identity, out of that which belongs to one towards that which
does not belong to one and is nevertheless one’s own—it is one of the deepest forms of
communion (pp. 28–29).

Joining in a communion means creating possibilities for the other. Lévinas suggests that
considering someone as one’s own son implies a relationship “beyond the possible” (1985, p.
71; 1988). In this relationship, the individual perceives the other person’s possibilities as if they
were his or her own. This requires the ability to move toward that which is no longer one’s own
but which belongs to oneself. It is one of the deepest forms of communion (Eriksson, 1992b).
Caring communion is what unites and ties together and gives caring its significance (Eriksson,
1992a).

The Act of Caring

The act of caring contains the caring elements (faith, hope, love, tending, playing, and
learning), involves the categories of infinity and eternity, and invites to deep communion. The
act of caring is the art of making something very special out of something less special.

Caritative Caring Ethics

Caritative caring ethics comprises the ethics of caring, the core of which is determined
by the caritas motive. Eriksson makes a distinction between caring ethics and nursing ethics.
She also defines the foundations of ethics in care and its essential substance. Caring ethics
deals with the basic relation between the patient and the nurse—the way in which the nurse
meets the patient in an ethical sense. It is about the approach we have toward the patient.
Nursing ethics deals with the ethical principles and rules that guide my work or my decisions.
Caring ethics is the core of nursing ethics. The foundations of caritative ethics can be found not
only in history, but also in the dividing line between theological and human ethics in general.
Eriksson has been influenced by Nygren’s (1966) human ethics and Lévinas’ (1988) “face
ethics,” among others. Ethical caring is what we actually make explicit through our approach
and the things we do for the patient in practice. An approach that is based on ethics in care
means that we, without prejudice, see the human being with respect, and that we confirm his or
her absolute dignity. It also means that we are willing to sacrifice something of ourselves. The
ethical categories that emerge as basic in caritative caring ethics are human dignity, the caring
communion, invitation, responsibility, good and evil, and virtue and obligation. In an ethical act,
the good is brought out through ethical actions (Eriksson, 1995, 2003).

Dignity

Dignity constitutes one of the basic concepts of caritative caring ethics. Human dignity is
partly absolute dignity, partly relative dignity. Absolute dignity is granted the human being
through creation, while relative dignity is influenced and formed through culture and external
contexts. A human being’s absolute dignity involves the right to be confirmed as a unique
human being (Eriksson, 1988, 1995, 1997a).

Invitation

Invitation refers to the act that occurs when the carer welcomes the patient to the caring
communion. The concept of invitation finds room for a place where the human being is allowed
to rest, a place that breathes genuine hospitality, and where the patient’s appeal for charity
meets with a response (Eriksson, 1995; Eriksson & Lindström, 2000).

Suffering

Suffering is an ontological concept described as a human being’s struggle between good

and evil in a state of becoming. Suffering implies in some sense dying away from something,
and through reconciliation, the wholeness of body, soul, and spirit is re-created, when the
human being’s holiness and dignity appear. Suffering is a unique, isolated total experience and
is not synonymous with pain (Eriksson, 1984, 1993).

Suffering related to illness, to care, and to life

These are three different forms of suffering. Suffering related to illness is experienced in
connection with illness and treatment. When the patient is exposed to suffering caused by care
or absence of caring, the patient experiences suffering related to care, which is always a
violation of the patient’s dignity. Not to be taken seriously, not to be welcome, being blamed,
and being subjected to the exercise of power are various forms of suffering related to care. In
the situation of being a patient, the entire life of a human being may be experienced as suffering
related to life (Eriksson, 1993, 1994a; Lindholm & Eriksson, 1993).
The suffering human being

The suffering human being is the concept that Eriksson uses to describe the patient. The
patient refers to the concept of patiens (Latin), which means “suffering.” The patient is a
suffering human being, or a human being who suffers and patiently endures (Eriksson, 1994a;
Eriksson & Herberts, 1992).

Reconciliation

Reconciliation refers to the drama of suffering. A human being who suffers wants to be
confirmed in his or her suffering and be given time and space to suffer and reach reconciliation.
Reconciliation implies a change through which a new wholeness is formed of the life the human
being has lost in suffering. In reconciliation, the importance of sacrifice emerges (Eriksson,
1994a). Having achieved reconciliation implies living with an imperfection with regard to oneself
and others but seeing a way forward and a meaning in one’s suffering. Reconciliation is a
prerequisite of caritas (Eriksson, 1990).

Caring culture

Caring culture is the concept that Eriksson (1987a) uses instead of environment. It
characterizes the total caring reality and is based on cultural elements such as traditions, rituals,
and basic values. Caring culture transmits an inner order of value preferences or ethos, and the
different constructions of culture have their basis in the changes of value that ethos undergoes.
If communion arises based on the ethos, the culture becomes inviting. Respect for the human
being, his or her dignity and holiness, forms the goal of communion and participation in a caring
culture. The origin of the concept of culture is to be found in such dimensions as reverence,
tending, cultivating, and caring; these dimensions are central to the basic motive of preserving
and developing a caring culture (Eriksson, 1987a; Eriksson & Lindström, 2003).