Episteme 17 (1):28-47 (2020)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
Feminist epistemologies hold that differences in the social locations of inquirers make for epistemic differences, for instance, in the sorts of things that inquirers are justified in believing. In this paper we situate this core idea in feminist epistemologies with respect to debates about social constructivism. We address three questions. First, are feminist epistemologies committed to a form of social constructivism about knowledge? Second, to what extent are they incompatible with traditional epistemological thinking? Third, do the answers to these questions raise serious problems for feminist epistemologies? We argue that some versions of two of the main strands in feminist epistemology – feminist standpoint theory and feminist empiricism – are committed to a form of social constructivism, which requires certain departures from traditional epistemological thinking. But we argue that these departures are less problematic than one might think. Thus, (some) feminist epistemologies provide a plausible way of understanding how (some) knowledge might be socially constructed.
|
Keywords | feminist epistemology social construction feminist standpoint theory feminist empiricism relativism Paul Bpghossian |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1017/epi.2018.11 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry.Helen E. Longino (ed.) - 1990 - Princeton University Press.
View all 72 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Evidentialism and Moral Encroachment.Georgi Gardiner - 2018 - In McCain Kevin (ed.), Believing in Accordance with the Evidence. Springer Verlag.
Feminist Standpoint Theory Vs. The Identitarian Ideology of the New Right: A Critical Comparison.Johannes Steizinger & Natalie Alana Ashton - forthcoming - Social Theory and Practice.
The Bias Paradox: Are Standpoint Epistemologies Self-Contradictory?Tobias Engqvist - 2022 - Episteme 19 (2):231-246.
The strong program in embodied cognitive science.Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira - forthcoming - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences:1-25.
View all 7 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Situating Feminist Epistemology.Louise M. Antony - 2000 - The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 2000:31-40.
Feminist Epistemology: An Interpretation and a Defense.Elizabeth Anderson - 1995 - Hypatia 10 (3):50 - 84.
Knowing Waste: Towards an Inhuman Epistemology.Myra J. Hird - 2012 - Social Epistemology 26 (3-4):453-469.
Altogether Now: A Virtue-Theoretic Approach to Pluralism in Feminist Epistemology In.Nancy Daukas - 2011 - In Heidi Grasswick (ed.), Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge.
Gendered Knowledge — Epistemology and Artificial Intelligence.Alison Adam - 1993 - AI and Society 7 (4):311-322.
Feminist Epistemology, Contextualism, and Philosophical Skepticism.Evelyn Brister - 2009 - Metaphilosophy 40 (5):671-688.
Feminist Epistemology: Implications for Philosophy of Science.Cassandra L. Pinnick - 1994 - Philosophy of Science 61 (4):646-657.
Illusions of Paradox: A Feminist Epistemology Naturalized.Richmond Campbell - 1998 - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2018-04-11
Total views
847 ( #8,371 of 2,520,747 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
88 ( #8,376 of 2,520,747 )
2018-04-11
Total views
847 ( #8,371 of 2,520,747 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
88 ( #8,376 of 2,520,747 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads