Illusions of Paradox A Feminist Epistemology Naturalized

by Campbell, Richmond

• ISBN13: 9780847689194
• ISBN10: 0847689190
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-30
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Modern epistemology has run into several paradoxes in its efforts to explain how knowledge acquisition can be both socially based (and thus apparently context-relative) and still able to determine objective facts about the world. In this important book, Richmond Campbell attempts to dispel some of these paradoxes, to show how they are ultimately just "illusions of paradox", by developing ideas central to two of the most promising currents in epistemology: feminist epistemology and naturalized epistemology. Campbell's aim is to construct a coherent theory of knowing that is feminist and "naturalized". Illusions of Paradox will be valuable for students and scholars of epistemology and women's studies.

Author Biography

Richmond Campbell is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
1. Introduction	1	(18)
Promise or Paradox?	1	(3)
The Paradoxes	4	(8)
Three Commitments	12	(1)
Notes	13	(6)
PART I: FEMINISM AND EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE	19	(66)
2 Understanding Feminist Empiricism	19	(24)
Internal Feminist Empiricism	19	(4)
Is This a Coherent Empiricism?	23	(4)
Can It Be Objective?	27	(3)
Does It Have Sufficient Scope?	30	(2)
Why Empiricism?	32	(3)
Notes	35	(8)
3. The Realism Question	43	(20)
Systemic Bias and Explanatory Power	43	(4)
Truth Versus Models	47	(2)
Diversity, Maps, and Individuality	49	(4)
More Arguments from Norms	53	(2)
Quine's Argument	55	(1)
The Bias Paradox	56	(3)
Notes	59	(4)
4. Knowledge as Social and Reflexive	63	(22)
A Case for Social Epistemology	63	(4)
Longino on Dialogue and Objectivity	67	(3)
Emotional Knowledge	70	(4)
Reflexivity and Empiricism	74	(4)
Standpoint Theory Compared	78	(1)
Notes	79	(6)
PART II: FEMINISM AND NATURALIZED EPISTEMOLOGY	85	(42)
5. Normative Naturalized Epistemology	85	(18)
Quine on Induction	85	(3)
Normativity Forsaken?	88	(4)
The Circularity Problem	92	(3)
Native Inferential Tendencies	95	(2)
Truth Versus Fitness	97	(3)
Notes	100	(3)
6. Self-Knowledge and Feminist Naturalism	103	(24)
The Genetic Fallacy Fallacy	103	(3)
Hardwig and Baier on Trust	106	(3)
MacKinnon on Self-Knowledge and Sexual Pleasure	109	(4)
Dillon on Basal Self-Respect	113	(3)
Sherwin on Autonomy	116	(4)
Feminism and Scientism	120	(2)
Notes	122	(5)
PART III: FEMINISM, MEANING, AND VALUE	127	(40)
7. Fact-Value Holism	127	(18)
Can Ends Be Objective?	127	(2)
The Fact-Value Dichotomy	129	(2)
Fact and Value as Interdependent	131	(2)
Models and Norms in Okin's Theory	133	(3)
Can Norms Explain the World?	136	(2)
What Are Epistemic Norms?	138	(3)
Notes	141	(4)
8. Meaning-Value Holism	145	(22)
Analyticity and the A Priori	145	(4)
Kitcher on A Priori Knowledge	149	(3)
Adding Fact-Meaning Holism	152	(2)
Is Feminist Metaethics Possible?	154	(1)
Feminist Moral Realism?	155	(8)
Notes	163	(4)
PART IV: FEMINISM AND MORAL KNOWLEDGE	167	(64)
9. Feminist Contractarianism	167	(24)
Feminist Motivations in Conflict	167	(2)
A Hybrid Theory of Moral Judgment	169	(6)
Realism and Contractarianism	175	(3)
Reconciling Justice with Care	178	(3)
The Need for an Archimedean Point	181	(1)
Embodied Knowledge	182	(2)
Transformational Experiences	184	(1)
The Baseline Problem	185	(1)
Morality without Foundations	186	(2)
Notes	188	(3)
10. Feminist Contractarianism Naturalized	191	(26)
Analogy with Induction	191	(3)
Biology in "Man's" Image?	194	(2)
Extending the Analogy	196	(3)
Coping with Circularity	199	(2)
Foundationalism or Coherentism?	201	(4)
The Communitarian Objection	205	(5)
Taking Consent Seriously	210	(3)
Notes	213	(4)
11. Conclusion	217	(14)
The Paradoxes Are Illusions	217	(8)
Is It Really Feminism? Or Philosophy?	225	(4)
Note	229	(2)
Bibliography	231	(10)
Index	241	(6)
About the Author	247