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Objectivity
pp. 35-61
Abstract
From epistemology to ontology, from the philosophy of (social) science to aesthetics, from ethics to linguistics, feminist philosophers have taken issue with the notion of objectivity.1 To aspire to objectivity in these fields often means harboring prior beliefs that scientific and epistemic claims about independent "facts of the matter" are produced by disinterested, dispassionate, value-free subjects who inhabit a view-from-nowhere and who engage in adversarial dialogue or knock-down argument.2 Despite these beliefs, no matter how hard we aspire to remove ourselves from claims about the world, something in us determines our picture of the object-world.3 Unfortunately, as a result of the supposition of a view-from-nowhere, interests, values, and background beliefs—which actually do affect enquiry—remain unexamined and distort the activity.
Publication details
Published in:
Howie Gillian (2010) Between feminism and materialism: a question of method. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
Pages: 35-61
Full citation:
Howie Gillian (2010) Objectivity, In: Between feminism and materialism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 35–61.