Gender and the Biological Sciences

Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 20 (sup1):21-42 (1994)
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Abstract

Feminist critiques of science provide fertile ground for any investigation of the ways in which social influences may shape the content of science. Many authors working in this field are from the natural and social sciences; others are philosophers. For philosophers of science, recent work on sexist and androcentric bias in science raises hard questions about the extent to which reigning accounts of scientific rationality can deal successfully with mounting evidence that gender ideology has had deep and extensive effects on the development of many scientific disciplines.Feminist critiques of biology have been especially important in the political struggle for gender equality because biologically determinist arguments are so often cited to ‘explain’ women’s oppression. They explain why it is ‘natural’ for women to function in a socially subordinate role, why men are smarter and more aggressive than women, why women are destined to be homebodies, and why men rape.

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Kathleen Okruhlik
University of Western Ontario

Citations of this work

A new direction for science and values.Daniel J. Hicks - 2014 - Synthese 191 (14):3271-95.
State of the field: Transient underdetermination and values in science.Justin Biddle - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1):124-133.
Defining 'health' and 'disease'.Marc Ereshefsky - 2009 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 40 (3):221-227.

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References found in this work

Knowledge and Social Imagery.David Bloor - 1979 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 30 (2):195-199.
Theory and Evidence.Clark Glymour - 1981 - Philosophy of Science 48 (3):498-500.
Science as Social Knowledge.Sharon L. Crasnow - 1992 - Hypatia 8 (3):194-201.

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