Hi--I thought that my original comment implied just that but I just
figured anyone on this list would take that info a priori. lso
On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Laura Sells wrote:
> Well, there is a whole body of feminist literature out there about sexism
> in science. And about how science is intrinsically sexist. And I am sort
> of surprised that no one has brought that up yet in this discussion.
>
> If you study the philosophy and history of science, you will see how the
> philosophical beliefs that fund science are sexist. In fact you can trace
> this back to Aristotle, even. (A good book on this is Genevieve Lloyd's
> _The Man of Reason: Male and Female in Western Philosophy, U Minnesota P,
> 1984). F. Bacon's famous line about strapping nature to the rack to probe
> her for her essential truths is one example.
>
> But beyond the sexist attitudes of famous philosophers of science, which
> undoubtedly influence the way science has developed, there are other
> sexist dimensions to science as well.
>
> One is the epistemological structure of objectivity. (As radical feminist
> Dale Spender points out, Objectivity is just another word for male
> subjectivity.) Objectivity is a sexist practice. There are several hundred
> publications that make this argument. Probably one of the most well known
> authors on this subject is Sandra Harding, but also Donna Haraway, Nancy
> Hartsock, Evelyn Fox Keller, Sue Rosser, Ruth Bleier, and many others.
> Sandra Harding is very accessible on this subject.
>
> Then there are the institutional structures of science, things like how
> many women are actually scientists, how many women get funded for
> research, how many women are encouraged to practice science, yada yada. As
> a result, science is sexist not only in philosophy but in practice as
> well. What happens as a result is that the "culture" of science is a male
> culture, exhibiting male values, and generalizing from masculine
> worldviews to the rest of the world. Brian Easlea, who I believe is a
> nuclear physicist, talks about the male culture of the science lab. He is
> very readable.
>
>
> Now, I know that this discussion is starting to get off the topic, which
> is feminist science fiction. But if we take Donna Haraway's starting
> point, which is that all science is really only science fiction, maybe we
> are not so far afield after all.
>
> Happy reading,
> Laura Sells
> University of South Florida
> Department of Women's Studies
>
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