Feminist Epistemology: definition, authors and fundamental principles.

A review of the history of these new approaches to scientific knowledge.

Feminist Epistemology is a term that refers to some ruptures with the traditional ways of doing scientific knowledge, arguing that it is not possible to make a generalized theory that ignores the context of the subjects that make up scientific knowledge.It argues that it is not possible to make a generalized theory that ignores the context of the subjects that develop them.

We will now review some of the characteristics of feminist epistemology, its antecedents and the contributions it has made to the social sciences.

What is Epistemology?

To begin with, let us briefly define epistemology and how it plays a role in our way of knowing the world. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, that is, it studies the principles, foundations and conditions that have given rise to knowledge being constructed in a particular way.

Epistemology analyzes the nature and purposes of knowledge, therefore it has to do with how the questions that shape a scientific investigation and its possible results are asked.

When we speak, for example, of "epistemological paradigms" we refer to the philosophical and methodological models that underlie scientific practice (models that are made by someone, that have resulted from human activity in relation to numerous social, historical, political, economic events) and that have marked our understanding of the world.

Feminist Epistemology: another way of knowing

Feminist Epistemology defends that the subject of knowledge is not an abstraction with universal faculties uncontaminated by sensible experiences.Rather, it is a particular historical subject, which has a body, interests and emotions that inevitably influence its rational thinking and the knowledge it constructs.

That is to say that it arises in response to the "disembodied" scientific tradition (disembodied because it has been presented as neutral and impartial, as if it were not made by a person) that has developed from the experiences and the worldview of a particular character: a man, white, heterosxual, western, upper class.

We can say that feminism put a body to traditional science, thus opening another possibility to make and validate scientific knowledge, that is, a new epistemological current.

In other words, it situated knowledge in concrete places (bodies) where it is produced, arguing that all knowledge is situated; that is, it is produced by a subject in a particular historical, temporal, social, political situation; with which, the methods to justify or validate this knowledge are also contextual.

From there also arises the connection between knowledge and power, as well as the responsibility of the knowledge produced and the ethical and political commitment, which is one of the main characteristics of Feminist Epistemology and which had remained hidden in much of traditional science.

Thus, what feminism has contributed to traditional Feminist Epistemology is a new way of understanding both the subject that produces knowledge and the product itself, i.e., scientific knowledge. In other words, it inaugurates other ways of knowing.

Background and ruptures with modern science

Feminist epistemology arose specifically since feminist movements placed the multiplicity of ways of knowing at the center of epistemological debates, arguing that due to the great diversity of identities that are constructed in modern societies, there is no total knowledge about reality, but only partial knowledge.

This has occurred through a gradual process, whose development has taken place especially during the twentieth century. Sara Velasco (2009) tells us that Feminist Epistemology originated from the recognition of two aspects that traditional epistemology had ignored: the existence of the sexes, and the norms of power-subordination that establish their relationships.

What Feminist Epistemology observes is that most of the research carried out in modern science has been characterized by notable omissionsThe omissions are hidden under the premise of universality and the dream of neutral knowledge.

One of these omissions is that modern science has been carried out by a part of humanity, which are mainly white and middle-class men..... The other important omission is that reason has been constituted over experience, ignoring the role of that experience and of the individual human psyche in the construction of knowledge.

In other words, feminists denounce and question the sexism and androcentrism of traditional science, so their research questions are framed in the same sense. It connects with critical epistemologies by not positioning itself from the neutrality of the researcher and scientific knowledge, showing that the research subject biases the research questions, hypotheses, analyses and results from the outset, precisely because it is a subject (i.e. by definition it is not an object).

Donna Haraway.

What questions does Feminist Epistemology ask?

Epistemology has to do with how the questions of scientific research and its objectives have been asked, which in turn has led to the production of certain knowledge.

Velasco (2009) synthesizes some of the objectives of Feminist Epistemology from the following general objective: To unveil and question the binary logics of male-female, feminine-masculine, active-passive, public-private, rational-emotional.

The latter considering the social hierarchy of valorization or devaluation that accompanies them, that is to say that it also questions exclusion, discrimination, silencing, omission, biases, devaluation, especially of the feminine and women, although other historically vulnerable positions were later incorporated through an intersectional view.

Thus, is constituted as an option to the biologicist and essentialist premises that establish or naturalize differences based on sex, race, disability, and the universalist and essentialist premises that establish or naturalize differences based on gender, race, disability, etc.and universalist and colonial premises that tend to homogenize bodies and experiences.

Some nuances of Feminist Epistemology

Harding (1996) proposes that Feminist Epistemology goes through different nuances that coexist and are all necessary, since they have had different contributions to the way of doing science: feminist empiricism, the feminist point of view and feminist postmodernism.

1. Feminist empiricism

This is, broadly speaking, an attempt to equate the position of women in the production of scientific knowledge with respect to men through the number of women doing science compared to the number of men. This is often a position that does not question the androcentric bias present in the research question itself.

2. Feminist point of view

It is based on the premise that using the male point of view to construct social reality causes this society to be constructed in an inequitable manner, so that the point of view of the female experience can create a more complete and equitable knowledge.

Nevertheless, sometimes feminist viewpoints continue to use the research methods of traditional science. It is not a matter of believing that women will do "better science" than men, but of recognizing that both experiences have different values, and that the female experience has been oppressed in the face of the male experience.

3. Feminist postmodernism

Sometimes the feminist point of view does not take into account the relations of oppression that are connected with the experience of women, with which it is also necessary to point out that the multiplicity of identities that are constructed in contemporary societies produce different experiences, so that there is no one truth or one single experience in "being a woman".

Feminist postmodernism strengthens the discussion on concepts such as subjectivity, social construction, sex-gender, gender and power relations, sexual division of labor, according to the diverse social experience of identities that are constructed not only by gender but also by class, race, culture, etc.

Challenges to traditional epistemology

Feminist Epistemology, however, and due to its intrinsic characteristics is a very heterogeneous issue, which has often faced a major challenge: that of complying with the standards and parameters of what is considered a "science", for example, the construction of categories, assumptions and axioms that go beyond discourse and that can be valid in terms of scientific rigor.

In the face of this, many proposals have emerged, from Donna Haraway's situated objectivity, to concrete proposals for specific contexts where research methods have been developed that correspond to the questions that feminism has contributed to our way of knowing the world.

Bibliographical references:

• Velasco, S. (2014). Sexes, gender and health. Theory and methods for clinical practice and health programs. Minerva Ediciones: Madrid
• Espín, L.M. (2012). In transition. Feminist epistemology and philosophy of science facing the challenges of a context of multicultural crisis. e-cardernos CES. [Online], Put online December 01, 2012, accessed April 12, 2018. Available at http://eces.revues.org/1521
• Guzmán, M. and Pérez, A. (2005). Feminist Epistemologies and Gender Theory. Cinta moebio, 22: 112-126.
• Harding, S. (1996). Ciencia y feminismo. Ediciones Morata: Madrid