Evelyn Fox Keller

Feminist criticism of science

Continuum from liberal to radical.

1) Liberal (don’t change science, but rather take the rules of science more seriously)

2) Radical (science itself is inherently flawed and we need to change its inner structure)

Range of feminist criticisms:

1) Employment and education equity.

2) Bias in choice of and definition of problems.

a. Contraception; PMS, historically ignore things like breast cancer

3) Bias in the design and interpretation of experiments.

a. Use of male rats

b. Orgasm experiments

4) Problem with having the goal of objectivity/rationality.

a. Objectivity itself is a masculine virtue and we should let it go

Science itself is about power and control à male virtues.

Problem with saying that objectivity is masculine à it marginalizes women, it puts women out of the discussion of science. This is contrary to the goal of science.

Goal of feminist criticisms of science:

1) reclaim science as a social practice for women

2) put the subject matter, excluded from science because it was considered feminine, back into science

Therefore we need to have a new take on objectivity:

Traditional takes on objectivity:

1) God’s eye view – distance from the object of study; aperspectival; neutral

a. An accurate picture or map of the world

b. Feminist criticism:

i. This is impossible and dangerous

ii. Some feminists want research to be done from a feminist perspective.

2) Inter- subjectivity -- we have more confidence that knowledge is objective if many people agree on it.

a. Hence we repeat experiments.

b. Feminist criticism:

i. Historically science has had inter-subjectivity, BUT the subjects all have the same political position and so there is no real objectivity.

Feminist theories of objectivity:

3) Stand point objectivity – some perspectives give us a better view than others do

4) Dynamic objectivity – increased accuracy due to connection with the object of study

5) Social objectivity – making sure that the group of people that reviews results is diverse as possible