Born in 1929, Nel Noddings was one of the first to advance something that might be classified as a feminist ethic. Like Carol Gilligan, Noddings argues that the veritable obsession with universal principles in ethics reflects a strong male bias—as does the tendency to use unrealistic and abstract moral dilemmas as vehicles for developing ethical theories. Instead, Noddings, who retired as the Lee Jacks Professor of Child Education at Stanford, reasons that natural caring relationships are the foundation of our sense of right and wrong. For Noddings, the ethical ideal is not to adhere to principles of the sort pressed by Utilitarians, Kantians, or social contract theorists, but instead to maintain the attitude of care that is central to human relationships.