WGST 3809 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Exclusion, Androcentrism, Feminist Epistemology

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• Course: WGST 3809
• Professor: Dr.Grace Adeniyi Ogunyankin

Document Summary

Lecture notes: positivism & feminist perspectives of positivism, epistemology & relationship w feminist scholarship, feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint & feminist postmodernism. Study of who can be a knowledge producer, what can be known & how knowledge is produced. Ep(cid:396)ese(cid:374)tatio(cid:374)s f(cid:396)o(cid:373) des(cid:272)(cid:396)iptio(cid:374)s of people/g(cid:396)oups(cid:859) o(cid:449)(cid:374) poi(cid:374)t of (cid:448)ie(cid:449) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h the(cid:455) confuse with absolute truth. E. g. the relationship between the brain & ovary in 19th century europe --> as the brain develops, the ovary shrinks. Truth: educated women are unable to bear children, so women should not be educated (because women can and should bear children) Evolved out of european rationalist & empiricist movements (cid:894)(cid:858)eu(cid:396)opea(cid:374) e(cid:374)lighte(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t(cid:859)(cid:895) Rationalist thought privileged the mind > bodily, subjective, emotional realms. Positivists believe in the existence of an objective reality/truth out there to be discovered. Scientific knowledge is value-free/neutral (cid:862)god t(cid:396)i(cid:272)k(cid:863): claims that the world can be viewed through science in a detached/impartial manner & that their view of reality is the correct one.