Psychological And Physical Aspects Of Science - 1683 Words

Philosophy of science has long studied the psychological and physical aspects of scientific knowledge, where situational factors inescapably influence researchers and outcomes of scientific studies and knowledge in general (reference). This idea is reflective in philosophy by the term ‘situated knowers’ (Stamford), broadly explained by considering how the same object can be interpreted differently by others in terms of their individual relation to it. An explanation of an object is reflective of, but not limited to location in space and time, emotions, attitudes, cognitive approach, worldviews and childhood. Ultimately, these factors represent the extent to which a person believes a claim is significant and valuable. The feminist†¦show more content†¦Feminism in science will be proved significant in the sense of providing a paradigm for exposing human values suppressed within scientific work by demonstrating how assumptions of gender have influenced scientific practice. As science is not and can never be wholly objective, it will be argued that the feminist critique does not undermine the objectivity of science, nor does its contributions make it more objective as science was never objective to begin with. It will then be discussed how feminist theories that are based on objectivity diverge from the crux of this matter and can be seen as detrimental to the field. Exemplified Sexism in Science Science is argued to have long come up with examples for the discrepancy of achievements between men and women within biology, evolution and psychology, exhibiting a long history of gendered bias. Under the guise of biology, sexism has often emerged to ‘explain’ female oppression, citing the influence of the sperm and egg â€Å"sleeping beauty/prince charming† (Okruhlik 1994, p. 147) rendition of reproduction. Science has presumably portrayed the female egg as an inactive participant within reproduction, allowing the sperm take on an active ‘heroic’ role that soley endures the journey to fertilization. Science then ignored contrary evidence found in 1895 that the egg produces fingerlike projections to actively guide the sperm, which has only recently been