Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: A Friend of Virtue

by Sandra G. Harding

Book Overview

Sandra Harding here develops further the themes first addressed in her widely influential book, The Science Question in Feminism, and conducts a compelling analysis of feminist theories on the philosophical problem of how we know what we know.Following a strong narrative line, Harding sets out her arguments in highly readable prose. In Part 1, she discusses issues that will interest anyone concerned with the social bases of scientific knowledge...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801497469
• ISBN13: 9780801497469
• Release Date: May 1991
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wonderful and needed critical thinking

I've struggled with issues in my attempts to operate within the domain of "science" (soiology) - and I have formulated many critiques on my own, and then I came across this book, which gave me a vocabulary of critique and connected a lot of the thoughts I had been having, with new ones. Harding's work is original, fair, and very thought-provoking. It's a deconstruction of the concept of "objectivity" as it often is understood (implicitly) by practitioners of science. She explains that supposedly "value-free" science is actually very much situated and biased. She offers the beginnings of a new paradigm or epistemology, which she calls "strong objectivity". This is a mode of knowledge production that is more self-aware of its own situatedness, and, for this, generates more reliable, more responsible and more useful knowledge.