•  162
    The Very Idea of Feminist Epistemology
    Hypatia 10 (3). 1995.
    The juxtaposition encompassed in the phrase "feminist epistemology" strikes some feminist theorists and mainstream epistemologists as incongruous. To others, the phrase signals the view that epistemology and the philosophy of science are not what some of their practitioners and advocates have wanted or claimed them to be-but also are not "dead," as some of their critics proclaim. This essay explores the grounds for and implications of each view and recommends the second.
  •  136
    Building on developments in feminist science scholarship and the philosophy of science, I advocate two methodological principles as elements of a naturalized philosophy of science. One principle incorporates a holistic account of evidence inclusive of claims and theories informed by and/or expressive of politics and non-constitutive values; the second takes communities, rather than individual scientists, to be the primary loci of scientific knowledge. I use case studies to demonstrate that these…Read more
  •  99
    Who knows: from Quine to a feminist empiricism
    Temple University Press. 1990.
    INTRODUCTION Reopening a Discussion The empiricist-derived epistemology that has directed most social and natural scientific inquiry for the last three ...
  •  92
    Feminist analyses of science have grown dramatically in scope, diversity, and impact in the years since Nancy Tuana edited the two-volume issue of Hypatia on “Feminism and Science” (Fall 1987, Spring 1988). What had begun in the 1960s and 1970s as a “trickle of scholarship on feminism and science” had widened by the mid-1980s “into a continuous stream” (Rosser 1987, 5). Fifteen years later, the stream has become something of a torrent. The essays assembled for this special issue of Hypatia repre…Read more
  •  80
    A Question of Evidence
    Hypatia 8 (2). 1993.
    I outline a pragmatic account of evidence, arguing that it allows us to underwrite two implications of feminist scholarship: that knowledge is socially constructed and constrained by evidence, and that social relations, including gender, race, and class, are epistemologically significant. What makes the account promising is that it abandons any pretense of a view from nowhere, the view of evidence as something only individuals gather or have, and the view that individual theories face experience…Read more
  •  50
    Appeals to some thesis of underdetermination, to the idea that scientific theories and hypotheses are not entailed by the evidence that supports them, are common in feminist philosophy of science. These appeals seek to understand and explain how androcentrism and other problematic approaches to gender have found their way into good science, as well as the reverse – how feminist approaches to gender and science that are also value-laden, can contribute to good science. Focusing on W.V. Quine’s po…Read more
  •  45
    No Rush To Judgment
    The Monist 77 (4): 486-508. 1994.
    One of the lessons we ought to have learned from the history of philosophy and science is that it is rarely, if ever, useful in dealing with challenges from a new movement or in distinguishing one’s position from a different school of thought, to “draw a line in the sand” and claim that everything on this side is legitimate and that everything on that side is not, and can therefore be dismissed without serious consideration or discussion. On some analyses, Plato sought to dismiss all of natural …Read more
  •  38
    Feminist Philosophy of Science
    In Peter Machamer & Michael Silberstein (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell. 2002.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Highlights of Past Literature Current Work Future Work.
  •  35
    Feminist Values and Cognitive Virtues
    with Jack Nelson
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1994. 1994.
    We consider Helen Longino's proposal that "ontological heterogeneity", "complexity of relationship", and "the non-disappearance of gender" are criteria for good science and cannot be separated into cognitive and social virtues. Using a research program in neuroendocrinology investigating a hormonal basis for sex-differentiated lateralization as a case study, the authors disagree concerning whether the first two criteria can be construed as criteria for good science. Concerning the non-disappeara…Read more
  •  29
    What Can She Know?: Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 24 (2): 295-326. 1994.
  •  22
    Preface
    Synthese 104 (3): 329-330. 1995.
  •  20
    Representing Reason: Feminist Theory and Formal Logic (edited book)
    with Val Plumwood, Carroll Guen Hart, Dorothea Olkowski, Marie-Genevieve Iselin, Jack Nelson, Andrea Nye, and Pam Oliver
    Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2002.
    Philosophy's traditional "man of reason"—independent, neutral, unemotional—is an illusion. That's because the "man of reason" ignores one very important thing—the woman. Representing Reason: Feminist Theory and Formal Logic collects new and old essays that shed light on the underexplored intersection of logic and feminism
  •  14
    What Can She Know? (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 24 (2): 295-326. 1994.
  •  13
    What Can She Know? (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 24 (2): 295-326. 1994.
  •  6
    Feminist Interpretations of W. V. Quine (edited book)
    with Jack Nelson
    Pennsylvania State University Press. 2003.
    As one of the preeminent philosophers of the twentieth century, W. V. Quine made groundbreaking contributions to the philosophy of science, mathematical logic, and the philosophy of language. This collection of essays examines Quine's views, particularly his holism and naturalism, for their value to feminist theorizing today. Some contributors to this volume see Quine as severely challenging basic tenets of the logico-empiricist tradition in the philosophy of science—the analytic/synthetic disti…Read more
  •  5
    Feminism, Science, and the Philosophy of Science brings together original essays by both feminist and mainstream philosophers of science that examine issues at the intersections of feminism, science, and the philosophy of science. Contributors explore parallels and tensions between feminist approaches to science and other approaches in the philosophy of science and more general science studies. In so doing, they explore notions at the heart of the philosophy of science, including the nature of o…Read more
  •  4
    Biology and Feminism: A Philosophical Introduction
    Cambridge University Press. 2017.
    This book provides a unique introduction to the study of relationships between gender and biology, a core part of the feminist science research tradition which emerged nearly half a century ago. Lynn Hankinson Nelson presents an accessible and balanced discussion of research questions, background assumptions, methods, and hypotheses about biology and gender with which feminist scientists and science scholars critically and constructively engage. Writing from the perspective of contemporary philo…Read more
  •  3
    This chapter contains sections titled: Methodological Particulars Adaptation The Role of History in Adaptation Explanations Reverse Engineering in Evolutionary Psychology Case Study: Parental Investment Theory Rules that “Fit” vs. Rules that “Guide” Behavior Responsible Science Notes.
  •  2
    Empiricism
    In Alison M. Jaggar & Iris Marion Young (eds.), A Companion to Feminist Philosophy, Blackwell. 2017.
    Many of our beliefs, practices, and theories reflect the assumption that the world impinges on us via our senses and, by so doing, shapes and constrains what it is reasonable to believe. And most of us engage in the practice of justifying and judging claims about ourselves and the rest of the world by reference to experience. As much to the point of the present discussion, feminist philosophers have long insisted that the questions, methods, and theories of philosophy should reflect and be evalu…Read more