Abstract
Reprising and revising a question from Longino regarding an earlier phase of standpoint theory, I raise some issues regarding the place of a substantive normative social theory in the strong objectivity project in Harding’s recent book, Objectivity and Diversity. I offer reasons to think the issue needs to be reframed in the co-constructionist and pluralist setting of the new book but that interesting issues continue to arise in thinking about the philosophical resources feminist philosophies of science can or might rely on.
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References
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Acknowledgements
This paper was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The issues I take up here were raised in a reading group on Harding’s book that I was in last winter; I thank my fellow participants—Bianca Crewe, Jill Fellows, Andrea Javor, and Michelle Pham—for their engagement and persistence. Bianca Crewe’s own research on this topic have clarified my sense of the issues and led me to the 1993 paper by Longino. For the inspiration to take my thinking to these new and surprising places, I would like to thank many people but most especially Jill Fellows, Harding, Longino, and Wylie. Old Carnapian dogs learn new tricks slowly.
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Richardson, A. Objectivity, diversity, democracy: locating social theory in Objectivity and Diversity . Philos Stud 174, 1819–1827 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-016-0821-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-016-0821-1