[Care: a professional concept to human limitations?].

Recent transformations in our society have brought to light new forms of care in which the carer/nurse relationship has been re-considered, and that have emphasised the multiple and varied forms of vulnerability. Through different theoretical approaches, we will present the various aspects of care in history and its re-thinking in the social, ethical and political context of the 2000's. We have focused on the various facets of care and their impacts for the nursing profession.