Feminist philosophy of science

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Feminist philosophy
Major works A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) The Subjection of Women (1869) The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) The Second Sex (1949) The Feminine Mystique (1963) Sexual Politics (1969) The Dialectic of Sex (1970) Speculum of the Other Woman (1974) This Sex Which is Not One (1977) Gyn/Ecology (1978) Throwing Like a Girl (1980) In a Different Voice (1982) The Politics of Reality (1983) Women, Race, and Class (1983) Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984) The Creation of Patriarchy (1986) Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989) Gender Trouble (1990) Black Feminist Thought (1990) Feminism and the Mastery of Nature (1993) Whipping Girl (2007) The Promise of Happiness (2010)
Major thinkers Bartky Baier de Beauvoir Bebel Boggs Butler Cixous Cleyre De la Cruz Collins Daly Davis Démar Federici Firestone Fourier Friedan Frye Gamond Goldman Grosz Haslanger hooks Irigaray Jaggar Kristeva Lerner Lorde Lugones Luxemburg MacKinnon Mama Michel Mill Taylor Mill Millett Nussbaum Pankhurst Pateman Plumwood Rubin Saadawi Showalter Spivak Voilquin Wittig Wollstonecraft Young Zetkin
Ideas Feminism analytical epistemology ethics existentialism metaphysics science Gender equality Gender performativity Social construction of gender Care ethics Intersectionality Standpoint theory
Journals Feminist Philosophy Quarterly Hypatia philoSOPHIA Radical Philosophy Signs
Category Feminist philosophy
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Feminist philosophy of science is a branch of feminist philosophy that seeks to understand how the acquirement of knowledge through scientific means has been influenced by notions of gender identity and gender roles in society. Feminist philosophers of science question how scientific research and scientific knowledge itself may be influenced and possibly compromised by the social and professional framework within which that research and knowledge is established and exists. The intersection of gender and science allows feminist philosophers to reexamine fundamental questions and truths in the field of science to reveal how gender biases may influence scientific outcomes.^[1] The feminist philosophy of science has been described as being located "at the intersections of the philosophy of science and feminist science scholarship"^[2] and has attracted considerable attention since the 1980s.^[3]

Feminist philosophers of science use feminist epistemology as a lens through which to analyze scientific methods, results, and analysis. This epistemology emphasizes "situated knowledge"^[4] that hinges on one's individual perspectives on a subject; feminist philosophers often highlight the under-representation of female scientists in academia and the resulting androcentric biases that exist in science. Feminist philosophers suggest that integrating feminine modes of thought and logic that are undervalued by current scientific theory will enable improvement and broadening of scientific perspectives. Advocates assert that inclusive epistemology via applying a feminist philosophy of science will allow for a field of science that is more accessible to public. Practitioners of feminist philosophy of science also seek to promote gender equality in scientific fields and greater recognition of the achievements of female scientists.

Critics have argued that the political commitments of advocates of feminist philosophy of science is incompatible with modern-day scientific objectivity,^[5] emphasizing the success of the scientific method due to its lauded objectivity and "value-free"^[6] methods of knowledge-making.