Helen Longino Quotes
Helen Longino is an American philosopher of science, professor emerita at Stanford University, and one of the leading defenders of social epistemology in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Science as Social Knowledge and The Fate of Knowledge argued that the objectivity of science is not a property of individual researchers but of the social practices, transformative criticism, and institutional norms by which scientific communities sift their results. The quotes below are attributed to Helen Longino, organized by topic.
Helen Longino on Freedom
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“Feminists—in and out of science—often condemn masculine bias in the sciences from the vantage point of commitment to a value-free science. Androcentric bias, once identified, can then be seen as a violation of the rules, as "bad" science. Feminist science, by contrast, can eliminate that bias and produce better, good, more true, or gender-free science.”
(Fall 1987) " Can There be a Feminist Science? ". Hypatia 2 (3: Special Issue: Feminism and Science, Part 1): 51–64. DOI : 10.1111/j.1527-2001.1987.tb01341.x .
Helen Longino on Knowledge
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Attributed to Helen Longino:
“Objectivity is a social achievement, not the property of an isolated knower.”
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Attributed to Helen Longino:
“Transformative criticism is the heart of scientific practice.”
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Attributed to Helen Longino:
“Knowledge is the product of communities, not of solitary observers.”
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Attributed to Helen Longino:
“Where there is no plurality of perspectives, the assumptions of inquiry pass unnoticed and unrevised.”
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Attributed to Helen Longino:
“Feminist philosophy of science is not a special pleading; it is good philosophy of science under another name.”
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“(Fall 1987) " Can There be a Feminist Science? ". Hypatia 2 (3: Special Issue: Feminism and Science, Part 1): 51–64. DOI : 10.1111/j.1527-2001.1987.tb01341.x .”
Feminists—in and out of science—often condemn masculine bias in the sciences from the vantage point of commitment to a value-free science. Androcentric bias, once identified, can then be seen as a violation of the rules, as "bad" science. Feminist science, by contrast, can eliminate that bias and produce better, good, more true, or gender-free science.