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Methodology, Ideology and Feminist Critiques of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2022

Noretta Koertge*
Affiliation:
Indiana University

Extract

This paper deals briefly with two questions which I have discussed elsewhere (Koertge 1981 and forthcoming):

  1. a) If all scientists were perfect Popperians (i.e., absolutely scrupulous with respect to methodology), how much influence could their backgrounds have? I include under background: the individual's “background knowledge” (in Popper's sense), psycho-sexual upbringing, class origins or identification, metaphysics, and ideology. This is a rather mixed bag and I hope the context will make clear whether it is primarily the person's values which are influential or his/her prescientific beliefs.

  2. b) Having argued that it is possible for background to play a role, I then ask whether the ideals of feminism suggest the need for a new methodology and epistemology for science. I will comment in particular on Harding's paper in this volume.

Type
Part V. Social Values and Social Science
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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