Epistemology and

UNIT 2 SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND ITS Gender-Based Analysis

CRITIQUE
Renu Addlakha

Structure

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 The Classical Scientific Method
2.4 Brief History of the Classical Scientific Method
2.5 Basic Steps in the Classical Scientific Method
2.6 Classical Scientific Method and Social Science Research
2.7 Critique of the Scientific Method
2.8 Feminist Critique of the Scientific Method
2.9 Let Us Sum Up
2.10 Glossary
2.11 Unit End Questions
2.12 References
2.13 Suggested Readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION
After reading about what is feminist and gender based research in the
previous unit, let us read about another associated aspect of conventional
research that is scientific method. The units looks into what is meant by
this term and how method qualified to named be named as scientific method
evolved with the passage of time. The unit then dwells upon the steps of
scientific method followed by it’s critique from a feminist perspective too.
Before moving ahead, lets glance through the objectives of reading this unit.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Describe the classical scientific method;

• Apply the classical scientific method in women and gender studies

research;

• Explain feminist critique of the scientific method; and

• Use the basic steps of the scientific method in conceptualising a research

problem in women and gender studies.

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Feminist and Gender
Based Research 2.3 THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Do you have answers to questions like:

• How is the world understood?

• How is reality gauged?

• How is knowledge gained?

Over the past three hundred years since the Enlightenment (go to glossary
to know more about it), the ‘scientific method’ has emerged as the
predominant, universally accepted approach to acquiring knowledge. As
against religious faith, magic and superstition, the scientific method is a
way of arriving at an empirical, impartial and reliable representation of the
world. The basic assumptions of the scientific method are that reality is
objective and consistent, that human beings have the capacity to perceive
reality accurately and that rational explanations exist for understanding
this reality. Essentially, it involves the application of a set of standardised
procedures for asking questions, gathering information or ‘data’ to answer
the questions and testing the validity, reliability and consistency of the
results. Different modes of logical reasoning, existing theories and laws,
classification and statistical procedures are used in combination to
operationalise the scientific method with the aim of arriving at ‘truth’. In
this Unit you will read a detailed description of this method, including a
critique, to enable you to drawn upon it for your research.

The classical scientific method broadly refers to a set of procedures and

techniques for acquiring knowledge. Historically, the foundations of this
method were laid during the Enlightenment when European thought moved
from a magico-religious understanding of reality to one dominated by reason
and science. It involves positing logical connections between phenomena,
gathering empirical and measurable evidence, confirming or refuting the
proposed connections. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific
method as ‘as a method or procedure that has characterised natural science
since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement
and experiment, and the formulation, testing and modification of
hypotheses’.

Generality, scientific method should give results that are not only capable
of verification by others, but also that have universal applicability under
similar conditions. Science is not concerned with individual cases or instances
but with classes and groups of objects and events of which the individual
is only a specimen.

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 Box No. 2.1 Scientific Method and Its
Critique

‘Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating a

phenomenon, acquiring new knowledge or correcting and integrating
previous knowledge’ (Goldhaber and Nieto 2010: 940).

The Italian scientist Galileo (1564-1642) is considered the founder of

the scientific method.

Let us now read the historical background of emergence of scientific method

in the realm of research.

2.4 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC

METHOD
The scientific method is not a purely modern invention because ancient
Egyptian documents describe application of empirical methods in astronomy,
mathematics and medicine. Greek philosopher Thales (624 BC–546 BC)
rejected religious, magical and supernatural explanations. He proclaimed
that every event has a natural cause. Another Greek philosopher Aristotle
(384-322 BC) is regarded as the inventor of the scientific method because of
his detailed study of logic. Experimental methods were developed by Islamic
scholars like Alhazen (965 -1040 AD) who worked on optics and physiology.

The development of the scientific method as the principal mode of acquiring

knowledge emerged during the Renaissance through the works of numerous
pioneering scientists and philosophers such as Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-
1543) who showed that it was not the earth but the sun which was the
centre of the solar system; William Harvey (1578-1657) who described in
accurate detail the functioning of the human circulatory system, Robert
Boyle (1627-1691) regarded by many as the ‘Father of Modern Chemistry’
and many others who performed controlled experiments providing elaborate
details concerning procedure, apparatus and observations. Perhaps, the
most well known of these great scientists is without doubt Isaac Newton
(1942-1727). Francis Bacons’s Novum Organum (1620) and Rene Descartes
(1637) Discourse on Method provided the theoretical foundation of the
classical scientific method.

In contrast to faith, dogma and tradition embodied in religious belief and

superstition, these thinkers advocated what would today be called the
‘scientific temper’. The basic features of the scientific temper are

• A belief in an underlying order in nature that is knowable through reason.

• The idea that every natural phenomenon has a cause which can be known.

• The universal accessibility to understanding nature through a set of

methodological procedures based on observation, measurement,
classification, experimentation, verification and prediction. 27
Feminist and Gender Truth is not based on blind faith in the word of God found in the scriptures
Based Research
but available to anyone following the method(s) of science. For example,
the geocentric model of the solar system was replaced by the heliocentric
model proposed by Copernicus which was based on observation of planetary
motions through telescopes, while the earlier theory was based on religious
faith not backed by actual observation. Science is conceptualized as an
objective enterprise and the scientific approach aims to minimize the
influence of bias of the individual scientist on the results of the research.

Before proceeding ahead, take up the following exercise.

Check Your Progress:

i) What is understood by scientific method and scientific temper ?

ii) What are the main features of the scientific method and its approach
to knowledge.

In the next section, you will read about the basic steps that need to be
carried out in conducting research in the classical scientific method.
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 Scientific Method and Its
2.5 BASIC STEPS IN THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC Critique

METHOD
You have read in the earlier section that the scientific method consists of
systematic observation, definition, classification, measurement, analysis and
interpretation. These activities are performed in a standardised sequential
manner from the conceptualisation of a research question, developing a
research design for answering them, interpretation of the results and
prediction and verification of the same.

Box No 2.2

Scientific knowledge is cumulative or incremental in the sense that

existing theories are fertile sources of new hypotheses, which are
subjected to experimental verification leading to the development of
new theories and laws.

The critical characteristic of the scientific method lies in the procedure or

steps involved in proposing hypotheses to explain phenomena, and designing
experimental studies to test them in such a fashion that we may arrive at
universally accepted facts. The procedure should enable other researchers
to arrive at the same results when doing the experiment under similar
conditions. This section will familiarise you with the various steps involved
in the classical scientific method.

The main steps or stages of the application of the scientific method are:

1) Observation and description of phenomenon;

2) Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon. In the classical

scientific method of which physics is the paradigmatic example, it takes
the form of a causal mechanism or mathematical relation;

3) Using the hypothesis to predict existence of other phenomenon or

the results of new observations;

4) Performance of experiments to test the hypothesis (see Glossary) by

several impendent researchers. If all the researchers come to the same
results, then the hypothesis will become a theory or law. Experimental
verification is the key for the success of the scientific method.

Science evolves gradually building upon existing knowledge. Scientific theories

vary in the extent to which they have been experimentally tested and for
how long and in their acceptance in the scientific community. All scientific
theory is closely tied to empirical findings, and hence always remains
subject to falsification in the event of a contradictory finding. In that sense
scientific knowledge is always provisional. Two contemporary examples will
illustrate the provisional nature of scientific knowledge. Current work in
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Feminist and Gender quantum and particle physics contests Einstein’s general theory of relativity
Based Research
according to which nothing travels faster than light. According to current
thinking in quantum theory, there are possibly subatomic particles that
move faster than light. This is a hypothesis subject to experimentation. On
the other hand, there is a general belief that the Earth is not the only
habitable planet in the universe. The recent discovery of a number of
earth-like planets orbiting distant stars that could sustain life forms, is a
hypothesis but there are no methods available at present to test it.

Box No. 2.3

Hypothesis: It is a general statement about a relationship between

phenomena that is open to being tested or becoming the subject of a
systematic investigation. It may be derived logically from existing
data or may be a stray hunch, guess or observation. Analogies or
similarities are an important source of hypotheses. The hypothesis
should be specific, conceptually clear, related to available theories
and techniques so that it can be tested.

A critical element of the scientific method is reducing the influence of bias

or prejudice of the researcher. Objectivity is an ideal pre-requisite of the
scientific method. Objectivity is the characteristic of something that is not
influenced by either changing contextual conditions or the observer. For
example, gold is yellow because it appears the same to all human eyes, but
if we say it is a precious metal, then, that is not an objective characteristic
of the metal. The ideal model of the researcher is an emotionally detached
observer whose values and beliefs do not interfere with the experiment.
This stance is called value neutrality, which assumes that social, political
and moral values should play no role in the search for truth.

One of the ways of guaranteeing objectivity is reliance on quantitative data

or numbers. Hence the great importance attached to counting and
measurement of variables in the scientific method. Operational definitions
of relevant variables, preferably in quantitative terms, are de rigueur in
science, such as measurement of temperature in degrees centigrade, power
in volts or electrical current in amperes. The fact that quantitative data
can be subjected to statistical manipulation and represented in tables and
graphs confers upon it a greater level of objectivity than representation of
information in the form of qualitative data or language.

An experiment can take several forms; for example, a classical laboratory

experiment under controlled conditions or an archaeological excavation.
Often, in the classical experimental design, the experimental and control
group strategy are adopted, wherein both the groups are similar is every
way possible except that the former is exposed to the phenomenon under

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study while the latter is not. The difference in the results is then attributed Scientific Method and Its
Critique
to the variable under study.

Since prediction of results and replication of the experiment under similar

conditions by other researchers are critical in the verification process,
detailed record keeping and archiving of the whole process are crucial
components of the scientific method. Other scientists must be able to
repeat the experiment and duplicate the results or arrive at the same
results following the same approach. International journals like Science and
Nature mandate a policy of data and methods archiving as part of the peer
review process, so that others can repeat the process for verification.

It will be noticed that the scientific method is a more systematic and

refined version of ordinary logical thinking wherein experience presents us
with a problem. We try to solve the problem by guessing a possible reason
or cause which becomes a prediction. Then, we test our conjecture to see
if our guess is correct or not. If we are right, then we have an explanation.
If we are wrong, then we make another guess and go through the process
again. This is referred to as the iterative cycle. Forms of reasoning in
scientific research like deductive and inductive inference are more refined
versions of everyday logical thinking that we all engage in.

Let us now read about why it important to adopt scientific method in social
science research.

2.6 CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND SOCIAL

SCIENCE RESEARCH
Let us understand that the exemplary location for testing of this method
is the laboratory setting, where conditions can be controlled for
experimentation and results can be derived in the form of causal connections.
The disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology have developed through
this approach which is why they are called experimental sciences.

But what happens when we want to study human behaviour and society?
Can the classical scientific method be equally successfully applied to finding
causal connections when the focus of enquiry shifts from the experimental
to the social and human sciences? The following section discusses the main
problems of application of the classical method to the study of social
phenomena.

Social scientists tried to apply the techniques of the natural sciences for
the study of human psyche and society. But it was soon found that social
reality is very different, and it is not possible to apply the classical scientific
method without modification for its study due to the following reasons:

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Feminist and Gender • Complexity of Social Data: No two persons are exactly alike and even
Based Research
the behaviour of the same individual varies under different circumstances.
So, it is difficult to generalise about social phenomena in the form of
universal cause-effect relationships. For example, most people will run
away from a burning building, but some may stay behind risking their
own lives to save others.

• Social Phenomeona is Unpredictible: Due to the complexity of social

phenomena, it is difficult to predict human behaviour and arrive at
laws that are universally true under identical circumstances. This is in
contrast to the high level of predictability that prevails in the case of
physical and chemical phenomena.

• Plurality of Causes and Intermixture of Effects: Not only do social

phenomena have a range of causes, but it is also difficult to clearly
distinguish between cause and effect in the case of social data. For
instance, higher rates of crime in a city may be due to unemployment,
inflation and/or lax policing. Then, poverty may lead to higher rates of
disability in society because more people become disabled due to lack
of access to adequate nutrition and healthcare; but disability may also
lead to poverty in that more disabled persons will find it difficult to get
and maintain a job because they are disabled, leading to a higher
incidence of poverty among disabled persons.

• Social Phenomena are Heterogeneous: Since there are multiple causes

and it is difficult to demarcate between causes and effects, the relative
homogeneity detected in natural phenomena gives way to a high level
of diversity and heterogeneity in the case of social phenomena.

• Difficulty in Measurment and Quantification: Due to such diversity,

it is difficult to quantify and consequently measure social categories.
This is unlike the case of mass, weight, gravity, current and other
physical and chemical phenomena. For instance, urbanisation,
indiscipline, assimilation and other social concepts are difficult to
translate in quantitative terms.

• Subjectivity of the Researcher and Objectivity of the Research:

Since the subject and object of study, namely human beings, are the
same, the experimental method becomes particularly difficult to apply.
Then, laboratory experimentation is difficult in the case of human
behaviour and social phenomena because it would introduce an
artificiality in the research as subjects would be aware that they are
being studied challenging the possibility of complete objectivity.
Moreover, in the case of social data the issue of bias of the researcher
and objectivity of findings also arises.

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The aforementioned notwithstanding, the basic paradigm of the classical Scientific Method and Its
Critique
scientific method does form the backbone of most social science research
including research in interdisciplinary areas like women and gender studies.
Indeed, one cannot deny the fact that under similar circumstances, most
persons behave in similar ways. Concepts of objectivity, because effect
relationships and verification have been complemented with concepts of
inter subjectivity and interpretation, to make the classical scientific method
more amenable to the study of human behaviour and society. Laboratory-
based experimentation has been replaced with other data collection methods
like interviews, questionnaires and field observations.

Box No. 2.4

Social research essentially involves using experience to arrive at a

conjecture, testing the conjecture, arriving at a result, making some
prediction from the result and then testing it out again.

The main steps for conducting the research involve:

1) Defining the problem and formulating a set of key research questions;

2) Gathering information to answer the questions;

3) Arriving at some explanation for the problem after collecting and

analysing the relevant data;

4) Interpreting the data.

5) Disseminating the results to other members of the social science

community.

Attempt the following exercise to assess your understanding of the last

couple of sections.

Check Your Progress:

i) Write the basic steps of classical scientific method.

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Feminist and Gender
Based Research ii) Define value neutrality.

iii) Give reasons why classifical scientific method cannot be applied

in social sciences without modification.

After reading about what is scientific method of research and how to apply
it, it also becomes important to read critique of the scientific method.

2.7 CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

The paradigm of acquiring knowledge embedded in the scientific method
that came into prominence from the Enlightenment dominated for over 300
years when it came under scrutiny. Historians and philosophers of science
highlighted the disjunction between the canons of the scientific method
and their actual practice in concrete contexts highlighting in particular the
subjectivity of the individual scientist and the strong role of existing theories
in deciding the nature and type of observations made in impacting the
research process. Sociological and historical studies of science like the
works of Michael Polanyi (1891-1976), Ludvik Fleck (1896-1961), Karl Popper
(1904-1994), Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) and Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) and
Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994) have highlighted the socio-cultural roots of
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the scientific method. Through detailed analysis of the actual practice of Scientific Method and Its
Critique
science in concrete settings, they have shown how the ideals of pure
science such as universality, objectivity and value-neutrality are more
ideological concepts than actual facts when operationalised in the actual
process of research.

The heuristic model of the scientific method and its practical application
i.e. the gap between the theory and practice of science is the source of
such criticism. Social science studies of science contend that sscience is a
social process since the experimental results must be reproducible by others
in the scientific community. For instance, Thomas Kuhn (1962) felt that
scientists work with preconceived notions and theories which subtly impact
their observations and measurements. Once a theory is accepted by the
scientific community, it not only becomes untestable but it forms the basis
of other theories constituting a veritable norm. According to Ludwik Fleck
(1979), scientists must examine their own biases and experiences to
understand how it impacts their research.

There are many possible critiques of the scientific method, from many
different viewpoints and for many different reasons. One of the most powerful
criticisms is that in the garb of objectivity, a great deal of bias and prejudice
is cloaked. For instance, racism underlies the science of eugenics just as
sexism colours reproductive biology. In fact, the inhuman medicinal research
carried out during the Nazi regime in Germany was embedded in a radical
notion of science completely bypassing the whole issue of human morality.
It is due to this massive abuse of science that research ethics emerged as
a critical moderator of the scientific method to protect human subjects
against harm arising out of research, particularly medical research.

Here in this unit, we will confine ourselves to a detailed account of the

feminist critique of science and the scientific method in the following
concluding section.

2.8 FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Feminists like Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and
Helen Longino among others have mounted a detailed and strident critique
of the scientific method by contesting its conceptions of knowledge, truth,
rationality and objectivity. Modes of scientific reasoning have also been
criticised. For instance, feminist theoreticians contend that binary thinking
which represents masculine and feminine as opposite is deeply embedded
in Rene’ Descartes dualism which makes a clear distinction between mind
and body. Feminism contests the notion of a detached knower and value
neutrality. It believes that all knowledge is ‘situated knowledge’ in which
the social cultural, political values of the knower play a role. In that sense
35
Feminist and Gender it does not believe in the idea and the ideal of objectivity as conceptualised
Based Research
in the scientific method.

Feminist critique attempts to identify androcentric and sexist biases in the

practice of science. It has been able to identify such biases particularly in
the disciplines of biology and psychology, especially in theories of women
and gender differences that legitimate sexist practices.

Feminists scholars argue that science and technology disadvantage women

and other vulnerable groups by subordinating their interests. For instance,
the ways economic development policies reinforce gender hierarchy by
focussing on men. Another level of criticism is the actual absence of women
in science ad technology, which is embedded in the education system that
systematically discourages women from pursuing studies in certain disciplines
e.g. physics and mathematics, while encouraging them in others e.g. social
sciences, humanities and languages.

The social location of the researcher and situated knowledge are key concepts
in the feminist critique of science and in feminist methodology. The underlying
concepts of feminist research are summarised below:

• The social location of the researcher defines the object of study:

Social location refers to a person’s gender, race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, caste, kinship, occupation, religion etc. In that sense, the
whole debate on value neutrality and detachment between observer
and the phenomenon under study becomes redundant from a feminist
perspective. Feminist theoreticians contend that the way knowledge is
generated is deeply gendered, implying that the scientific method is
itself flawed because it reflects a male perspective of the world.

• Reflexivity: It is the process of the researcher making explicit her

social location, interests, background assumptions, biases and other
features of themselves showing how they shape the questions, methods
and interpretations of the research. Reflexivity directly challenges the
notion of value neutrality because it beings with the idea that there is
no possibility of doing any research without factoring in the perspective(s)
of those undertaking the research.

• Situated Knowledge and Objectivity: The fact that knowledge is deeply

context-dependant where it is produced and connected to the location
of the researcher does not mean that it is not objective. Indeed, Evelyn
Fox Keller’s (1985) notion of ‘dynamic objectivity’ and Sandra Harding’s
(1991) notion of ‘strong objectivity’ show that objectivity is not a
universal taken-for-granted concept either. In contrast to the obsessive
compulsion to maintain distance and detachment from the object of
study found in traditional notions of objectivity, dynamic objectivity
does not have the neurotic anxiety to the maintain independence of the
subject from the object of study.
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 In recognition of the intertwined relationship between power and Scientific Method and Its
Critique
knowledge, strong objectivity underscores the standpoint of marginalised
groups in the generation of objective knowledge. According to Sandra
Harding, knowledge produced by subordinate groups has an edge because
it unpacks many of the unquestioned categories that the knowledge by
powerful groups naturalises. Subaltern perspectives are a form of situated
knowledge that not only give voice to marginalised knowledges but may
also challenge the underpinnings of their own subordination. Strong
objectivity incorporates democratic inclusion with reflexivity.

• Emotional Engagement: Abstract, theoretical, emotionally detached,

analytic and quantitative thinking that are intrinsic to the scientific
method are regarded as typically ‘masculine’ cognitive styles. On the
other hand, intuitive, holistic, contextual, practical, emotionally involved,
relational and qualitative modes of thinking are labelled ‘feminine’.
(Rooney 1991). Keller’s notion of dynamic objectivity calls for a fruitful
emotional engagement with the object of study. That is why qualitative
methods like ethnography that seek identification with the objects/
subjects of study have been given preference by feminist scholars.
However, this does not mean that quantitative research cannot be done
from a feminist perspective.

Box No 2.5

One may say that the scientific method has been critiqued by feminist
scholars for its androcenetricsm, overgeneralisation, gender insensitivity
and sexual double standards. Feminist research approaches and methods
emphasise on experience, pluralism, pragmatism and the epistemic
advantage of disadvantaged groups. They highlight the interplay of
facts and values, the centrality of situated knowledge and the need
to move beyond ideas of regulation and control that are intrinsically
masculine in nature.

Examples of Gender Blind Perspectives in Science: The ‘sexism or sexist

bias in science has come in for particular scrutiny in biology. Narrative of
sperm and egg casts the former as the active agent while the latter is
passive obscuring the causal role of the latter in fertilisation (Martin 1991).

Similarly, depicting the transition from ape to hominid as a heroic drama

puts the focus on presumptively male activities like hunting as the driver
of evolution obscuring the role of other equally but more presumptively
female or gender neutral activities and behaviours like food gathering,
child care and language as the engine of evolution (Haraway 1989).

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Feminist and Gender
Based Research 2.9 LET US SUM UP
This unit has described the main features of the classical scientific method
as it evolved in the experimental sciences over the past 300 years. This
method has contributed to the development of the many scientific discoveries
and technological innovations that are the architecture of modern life.
However, science is not without its critics. The scientific method has come
in for criticism from many directions within the social sciences since the
1930s. Philosophers, historians and sociologists of science like Thomas Kuhn,
Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi among a host of others have shown how the
social context in which science is practised influences its methodology,
theory and results. Taking this critique to another level feminist scholars
like Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and Helen Longino
have shown that science is gender insensitive and biased both in theory and
practice. Feminist science exposes the sexist and androcentric biases in
scientific research, especially in theories about women, sexuality and gender
differences. This is done by highlighting the influence of social and political
factors in what is described as a neutral in the search for knowledge and
truth.

2.10 GLOSSARY
Androcentrism : (from andro in Greek meaning male) is the practice,
conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings
or the masculine point of view at the center of one’s
view of the world and its culture and history. The related
adjective is androcentric,

Empirical : Adjective referring to information gained by means of

observation or experimentation. A central concept in
the scientific method is that all evidence must be
empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on
evidence or consequences that are observable by the
senses. It is usually differentiated from the philosophic
usage of empiricism by the use of the adjective empirical
or the adverb empirically. The term refers to the use of
hypotheses that are testable using observation or
experiment. In this sense of the word, scientific
statements are subject to, and derived from, our
experiences or observations

Enlightenment : An intellectual movement that began in Europe during

the 18th century heralding the supremacy of reason and
science over dogma religion and tradition. The leading
thinkers of this movement were Rene Descartes, Baruch
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 Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, Francis Bacon, Thomas Scientific Method and Its
Critique
Hobbes, and John Locke, The roots of the scientific
method lie in their works.

Eugenics : An applied medical science or the biosocial movement

which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving
the genetic composition of a population “, usually
referring to human populations. Particularly popular in
the early decades of the 20th century, it has posed serious
ethical and political challenges particularly its role in
the Naxi programme of racial cleansing during the Second
World War.

Hypothesis : A limited statement about the relationship between

phenomena in terms of cause and effect. This is a
common form of reasoning in everyday life which we all
adopt; for instance, if the gas in your kitchen does not
work after you have lit it, you may at the first instance
hypothesise that the cylinder is not turned on; if the
cylinder is on, you may find out if the cylinder is empty
or not. That is another hypothesis. If you find it its
empty, you order a new cylinder, but if you discover
that it still has gas, you may formulate another
hypothesis, or you may call the gas repairman to resolve
the problem.

Renaissance : A cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to

the 17th century, beginning in Italy and then spreading
to the rest of Europe. It encompassed a flowering of
literature, science, art, religion, and politics, and a
resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the
development of linear perspectives in painting, and
gradual but widespread educational reform. This
intellectual transformation has resulted in the
Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the middle
Ages and the Modern era.

2.11 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the role of the researcher in the study of physical and social
sciences with a particular focus on issues of subjectivity, bias and prejudice.

2) Critically evaluate the feminist critique of science.

3) Critically evaluate and comment on the following statement: ‘Feminist

methodology corrupts the search for truth by its ideological position of
equating science with patriarchy’.
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Feminist and Gender 4) What do understand by ‘situated knowledge’? Do you think it is an
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improvement upon the classical scientific perspective of the researcher
as ‘detached’? Discuss ?

2.11 REFERENCES
Bacon, F. (1620/1898). Novum Organum or True Suggestions for the
Interpretation of Nature Verulam, Lord Francis (ed). London and New York.

Descartes, R. (1937/1960). Discourse on Method and Meditations . L. J.

Lafleur (trans.). New York: The Liberal Arts Press.

Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. T. J. Trenn

and R.K. Merton (eds.), F. Bradley and T. J. Trenn (trans). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press,

Goldhaber, A. S. and M.M. Nieto (2010). Photon and Graviton Mass Limits,
Rev. Mod. Phys. (American Physical Society) 82.

Haraway, D. J. (1989). Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the

World of Modern Science. London and New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Fox Keller, E (1985). Reflections on Gender and Science. New Haven/

London: Yale University Press.

Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s

Lives. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University

of Chicago Press.

Martin, E. (1991). The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a
romance based on stereotypical male and female roles. Signs (Journal of
women in culture and society) 16(3): 485-501.

Rooney, P.(1991). Gendered reason: Sex Metaphor and Conceptions of Reason.

Hypatia 6(1).

2.12 SUGGESTED READINGS

Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s
Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University

of Chicago Press.

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