Sandra Harding: On Standpoint Theory's History and Controversial Reception

In this interview, Sandra Harding discusses her article “A Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science? Resources from Standpoint Theory's Controversiality” with attention to the history of Standpoint Theory as well as its interdisciplinary diversity. Standpoint Theory, argues Harding, should be thought of as epistemology, as a philosophy of science, as a sociology of science, and as a methodology for doing research. Combining these forces, Standpoint Theory controversially asks questions about knowledge production: “Whose knowledge is being produced? For whom is a particular piece of research going to provide benefits? Who is going to bear the cost of one question being pursued rather than another?”

Harding is a Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA. She currently works on Standpoint Theory, Philosophy of Science and Postcolonial thought. Her latest books are Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities (Duke University Press, 2008) and Objectivity and Diversity: Another Logic of Scientific Research (University of Chicago Press, 2015).

“A Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science? Resources from Standpoint Theory's Controversiality”- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10...

Sciences from Below:
https://www.dukeupress.edu/sciences-f...

Objectivity and Diversity:
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/b...