Write a Philosophy of Science on How gender intersects with science:Write 4-6 double-spaced pages, in 12-point font, with 1”-1.25” margins.
discussed several examples where gender intersects with science:
– Research on divorce, reported in Anderson’s “Uses of Value Judgments in Science.”
– The Sperm & Egg textbook excerpts handout, along with Section 1 of Okruhlik’s paper.
– Primatology, as discussed in Fedigan’s “The Paradox of Feminist Primatology,” the beginning of Okruhlik’s “Gender and the Biological Sciences,” and T&R 9.3.
– Sexual Orientation, in Elbein’s “Seeking a New Lens to Study Same-Sex Behavior…”
For your essay, you need to do all of (a)-(d):
(a) Choose (at least) one of the above examples, and describe it.
[Q: In how much detail? A: Enough to answer (b)-(d) well.]
(b) How would a (philosophical) feminist empiricist account for what’s going on in this example?
(c) How would a standpoint theorist account for what’s going on in this example?
(d) Is there any reason to prefer one theory (standpoint vs. contextual feminist empiricist) over the other? –either because of how each explains this case (or other cases), or for other, more general reasons? Or is neither theory acceptable? Why?
NOTE: Part (d) is the most important part of the paper, since this part is where you are making your own, original contribution. Your thesis (which should appear at the end of your first paragraph) should state (i) which of the two you will defend (or say it’s a tie), and (ii) why. Do NOT treat this part as an afterthought—the previous parts of your paper should build up to this one: it’s the heart of your essay. You should almost certainly present at least one objection to your view (and reply to it, of course).
Texts that cover philosophical feminist empiricism and standpoint theory: Section 9.4 of Theory and Reality, Kristen Intemann’s “25 Years of Feminist Empiricism…” (Canvas), as well as Elizabeth Anderson’s “Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science” entry at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (web) and Liam Kofi Bright’s “Empiricism is Standpoint Epistemology”: http://sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2018/06/empiricism-is-standpoint-epistemology.html
