Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T19:56:22.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Feminist Epistemology: Implications for Philosophy of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Cassandra L. Pinnick
Cassandra L. Pinnick*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Western Kentucky University
*
‡Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the best contemporary arguments for a feminist epistemology of scientific knowledge as found in recent works by S. Harding. I argue that no feminist epistemology of science is worthy of the name, because such an epistemology fails to escape well-known vicissitudes of epistemic relativism. But feminist epistemology merits attention from philosophers of science because it is part of a larger relativist turn in the social sciences and humanities that now aims to extend its critique to science, and Harding's “standpoint feminism” is the best-developed case. She attempts to make new use of discredited philosophical ideas concerning underdetermination, Planck's Hypothesis, and the role of counterfactuals in historical studies of science.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 646 - 657
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

For general inspiration and discussion, I acknowledge L. Laudan, R. Laudan, P. Hamlett, J. Maffie, L. Mayhew, and W. Schmaus.

References

Bloor, D. (1976), Knowledge and Social Imagery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Feyerabend, P. (1970), “Consolations for the Specialist”, in Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., (eds.), I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 197–230.Google Scholar
Goldman, A. (1987), “Foundations of Social Epistemics”, Synthese 73: 109–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, S. (1989a), “Feminist Justificatory Strategies”, in Garry, A. and Pearsall, M., (eds.), A. Garry and M. Pearsall, Boston: Unwin Hyman, pp. 189–201.Google Scholar
Harding, S. (1989b), “How the Women's Movement Benefits Science: Two Views”, Women's Studies International Forum 12: 271–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, S. (1989c), “Women as Creators of Knowledge”, American Behavioral Scientist 32: 700–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, S. (1990), “Starting Thought from Women's Lives: Eight Resources of Maximizing Objectivity”, Journal of Social Philosophy 21: 140–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, S. (1992a), “After the Neutrality Ideal: Science, Politics, and ‘Strong Objectivity‘”, Social Research 59: 567–582.Google Scholar
Harding, S. (1992b), “Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is ‘Strong Objectivity‘?”, The Centennial Review 36: 437–470.Google Scholar
Harding, S. (1992c), “Subjectivity, Experience and Knowledge: An Epistemology From/For Rainbow Coalition Politics”, Development and Change 23: 175–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, D.; Tessner, P.; and Diamond, A. (1978), “Planck's Principle”, Science 202: 717–723.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huxley, L. (1901), Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, vol. 2. New York: Appleton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitcher, P. (1990), “The Division of Cognitive Labor”, Journal of Philosophy 3: 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1970), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Laudan, L. (1990), “Demystifying Underdetermination”, in Giere, R., (ed.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 14: 267–297.Google Scholar
Laudan, L. and Leplin, J. (1991), “Empirical Equivalence and Underdetermination”, Journal of Philosophy 88: 449–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laudan, R.; Laudan, L.; and Donovan, A. (1988), Scrutinizing Science: Empirical Studies of Scientific Change. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Roth, P. and Barrett, R. (1990), “Deconstructing Quarks”, Social Studies of Science 20: 579–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slezak, P. (1991), “Bloor's Bluff: Behaviourism and the Strong Programme”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 5: 241–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar