HPS 2159 - FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
If there is a legitimate role for political values in scientific knowledge production, why should those values be feminist? In this course, we will explore the ways that feminist epistemologists and philosophers of science have characterized a positive role for feminist values in scientific theory and practice. We will ask what this means for traditional accounts of science as objective and value-free, and consider possible consequences of feminist arguments for how science ought to be done, and by whom. In particular, we'll examine feminist critiques of essentialism, biological determinism, and reductionism in science, using examples from sex differences research. We'll then consider how political values might play a role in so-called ``good science," focusing on underdetermination and the argument from inductive risk. We will examine arguments about the particular role(s) of feminist values in science by attending to the traditions of feminist empiricism and feminist standpoint theory. We will evaluate the consequences of these arguments for concepts of objectivity, for the structure of scientific communities, and for the authority and trustworthiness of scientific explanation.
Academic Career: Graduate
Course Component: Seminar
Grade Component: Grad LG/SNC Basis

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