Modest Standpoint Epistemology: What Is Strong Objectivity?

Throughout this course, we learned that women’s studies originated as a concern at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). In the past, men had more privileges than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs has divergent female

After earning a doctorate, Castro was hired by a small men’s college in rural Indiana to teach feminism theory and women 's literature to thirty-five men. She was prepared and ready for the disagreements, the drop outs and the failures that couldn’t open up their minds on feminism. But she values those voices, the questions and hostility because "they taught me how to make feminism 's insights relevant to people outside a closed, snug room of agreement" (Castro, 98). She had learned how to create feminism theory, critical race theory and observation about class privilege relevant, exciting and even needful to people who had no material reason to care. She learned diplomacy.

It is significant to understand that the beliefs that there is a difference in objectivity based on gender is a societal and cultural, based on the upbringing and environment. When looking at the diction used, Keller implies that although these ideas are man-made by cultural upbringing, they are able to thrive on their own. Because these “cultural and physiological forces” have not been publicly challenged before Keller, they have made their way to the day-to-day lives of many communities, including the scientific community that Keller is focusing on as a whole. Keller not only addresses that these believed differences are purely societal, but later goes on to explain where the societal fallacies come from, therefore, strengthening her challenge.

Throughout Gender and Race in the Physical Sciences, I have been struck by how rarely in STEM we shed a light on the women of color that already exist and thrive in the sciences. Often, when we discuss diversity in the sciences, we only discuss it in the frame of a problem. More specifically, we tend to focus on the problem of there not being enough of these women in the field. As a result of the lack of attention paid to pioneering women in STEM, many young people of all backgrounds are inclined to believe that there are no women of color doing great things in the field- that there are no role models. With this paper, and an on-campus event to be held in the spring, I hope to challenge people’s assumptions about what a scientist looks like, and inspire people through a discussion of innovative women of color.

As per research ‘gender’ provides a perspective from which one could examine the biases that exist in the larger society. Some believe that to arrive at a more eloquent understanding of the problems of women in science , one should begin by asking what is the nature of science space that leads to under-representation and marginalisation of women rather than questioning the situation of a woman’s life that makes it difficult for her to pursue science.

An individual's social location - meaning their ascribed identities, roles and relationships - are of central significance to feminists as it influences the power one possesses, which in traditional IR theory is gendered and patriarchical. According to Christine Sylvester, these scholars suggest that conventional IR has avoided thinking of men and women in the capacity of embodied and socially constituted subject categories by classifying them into 'neutral' categories . Most theorists too readily accept that women are located inside the typically separate sphere of domestic life and "...retreating to abstractions, i.e. the state, that mask a masculine identity." Feminist analysts are suspicious of ungendered IR texts and champion for their subversion while many seek to implement replacement theories. These theorists contend that identity, gender, and indeed women, are social constructs. Key feminist conceptions include liberal ideas of women's equality, socialist conceptions of a sexual division of labour and the Freudian suggestion that identities are produced, often within the evolution of patriarchy . Many academics share the assumption that the world would be less competitive and less violent if women gained dominance in positions of power .

Since the beginning of evolution, females have been subjected and objectified based on their gender. History taught us that when during the 19th century, Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and geologist stated in his papers “The Origin of Man” (1859) and “Descent of Man” (1871) that men were superior to women. Unfortunately, such subjections to women still persist today; in politics, education, labor and surprisingly in science.

Major Claim: The objectification and “currency” of a women’s body is the pivotal focus for the readings presented in class. It is discussed in the readings about how women are only considered for their looks, and not their personal depth or knowledge. Additionally, intersectionality is observed and how these objectifications effect marginalized groups. Finally, the term of enlightened sexism is introduced and how this concept is dangerous to and reverses feminism.

Science is the truth. It is unwavering and absolute. As a result, it is objective and free of imperfection. As such, Steven Weinburg, a theoretical physicist, once stated, "The laws of nature are as impersonal and free of human values as the rules of arithmetic. We didn 't want it to come out that way, but it did." Weinburg explains that science, like arithmetic is ultimately an objective discourse—free from subjectivity and emotion. However, in Evelyn Fox Keller’s novel Reflections on Gender on Science, she argues against science as being an objectivist ideology. She asserts that science does not encompass the complete truth, but is rather a perverted, masculine discourse. Keller critiques Weinburg’s assertions as faulty, where she argues

   Throughout history, women have always aimed for a recognized place in society. Centuries ago, people looked at the role of women in society as being sociologically inferior. Seeing the revival of the Feminist movement, which boldly opposes the stereotypical characteristics of women in society, on one hand, and promotes the elevation of women's status in society, on the other, one would not find it hard to believe the drastic differences in opinion of people on this issue. What is amazing is how these differences reflect upon scholarly works in science.

IV: Feminist scholarship extensively details how the very tools that allow us to interpret the world can also constitute and reinforce inequalities of power. We are given over form the beginning to structures such as language, identity, law, nation and privilege (among many others) that implicate us in processes of exclusion, devaluation, and commodification. Drawing upon at least one reading from classes 15-21, one from classes 22-27 and another from before the midterm, discuss methods of undermining or subverting this inevitable complicity to forge room for resistance.

Certain brands of feminism place gender as the key axis of oppression on which women are oppressed. This was a contributing factor in the united sisterhood and womanhood of the second wave, an ideal which led to the marginalisation and erasure of many women’s experience such as women of colour, women with disabilities, women of lower socioeconomic class and standing, and so on. When second wave feminists do embrace an intersectional view, they tend to employ an additive measure of intersectionality rather than a multiplicative view, which is detrimental and erasive because it often causes oppressions to be ranked in a hierarchy of perceived importance, and from a feminist point of view it is gender

She comments on the oppression experienced by woman through three distinct lenses: that of biological differences, that of the psychoanalytical perspective, and finally through the lens of historical materialism.

Epistemology is a study that seeks to elaborate what knowledge is in the real sense. Riley explains how feminism has been a hindrance to access of standard amenities and knowledge in the society. Females have been oppressed in the various fields terming these career paths as gender-sensitive. Feminism is the ideology and general concept that seeks to deal with equality of those rights given to men and women. Women have been deemed to be of the weaker sex and feminism has gone a long way to negating this notion so that even women will have the courage to face their everyday challenges. This paper will look into Riley’s opinion on feminism seeking to agree with her perspective of argument.

Feminist interaction with the philosophy of science, and in particular a feminist interpretation of epistemology, concerns the extent to which bias influences and shapes knowledge within the scientific community, and means to rectify this. There are three main distinctions of feminist philosophy of science - feminist empiricism, standpoint theory, and postmodernism. I am to be comparing and contrasting two of the three, specifically feminist standpoint theory and empiricism. I shall argue that standpoint theory and empiricism are both legitimate methods for feminist epistemology, yet standpoint theory is a more applicable and plausible method for the analysis of science in particular. I will first explain the main tenets of the feminist philosophy of science, going on to then explain reasons why standpoint theory and postmodernism are legitimate tools of analysis in their own right, and then evaluate their legitimacy.