Feminist epistemologies and philosophies of science have challenged conventional standards for objectivity, rationality, “good method” and “real science.” This paper looks at the stronger standards for maximizing objectivity which feminists have demanded, and the challenges to conventional philosophies and histories of science arising from non-Western science and technology traditions. Sciences and philosophies of science which want to advance social progress and social justice cannot do so if the ignore these challenges from groups located at “the peripheries of the Enlightenment.”
It is now three decades since critics began to look at the theories and practices of science and technology (S&T) through the distinctive perspectives produced by the women’s movement in the U.S. and Europe. These critics asked: to what extent do modern S&T fail to give equal attention to women’s interests? How does a sexist social structure in science and society shape both modern sciences’ patterns of knowledge and their patterns of ignorance? What can be done to increase the democratic effects of S&T projects? In the last decade especially, analyses that start off from the lives of women from racial and ethnic minorities in the North and women in the Third World have added distinctive perspectives to these debates. Here I shall briefly review main themes in these literatures, and then, even more briefly, turn to their implications for theories of democracy and philosophies of science.
