What Can She Know?: Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge

Code, Lorraine

ISBN 10: 0801497205 / ISBN 13: 9780801497209

Published by Cornell University Press, 1991

About this Item

Book is in good condition and may include underlining highlighting and minimal wear. The book can also include "From the library of" labels. May not contain miscellaneous items toys, dvds, etc. . We offer 100% money back guarantee and 24 7 customer service.

Seller Inventory # ZEV.0801497205.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What Can She Know?: Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801497205
• ISBN 13: 9780801497209
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

In this lively and accessible book Lorraine Code addresses one of the most controversial questions in contemporary theory of knowledge, a question of fundamental concern for feminist theory as well: Is the sex of the knower epistemologically significant? Responding in the affirmative, Code offers a radical alterantive to mainstream philosophy's terms for what counts as knowledge and how it is to be evaluated.

Code first reviews the literature of established epistemologies and unmasks the prevailing assumption in Anglo-American philosophy that "the knower" is a value-free and ideologically neutral abstraction. Approaching knowledge as a social construct produced and validated through critical dialogue, she defines the knower in light of a conception of subjectivity based on a personal relational model. Code maps out the relevance of the particular people involved in knowing: their historical specificity, the kinds of relationships they have, the effects of social position and power on those relationships, and the ways in which knowledge can change both knower and known. In an exploration of the politics of knowledge that mainstream epistemologies sustain, she examines such issues as the function of knowledge in shaping institutions and the unequal distribution of cognitive resources.

What Can She Know? will raise the level of debate concerning epistemological issues among philosophers, political and social scientists, and anyone interested in feminist theory.

About the Author

Lorraine Code is Associate Professor of Philosophy at York University.