Social Constructionism: Knowledge is a Creation Based on Social Interests Science is not the objective accumulation of facts, because “facts” are answers to questions framed in incommensurable theoretical frameworks (paradigms) Epistemological Relativism: knowledge varies in conceptual schemes with different criteria for justification, truth, & rationality Communal interests determine how to evaluate different paradigms Thomas Kuhn

The Gendered Character of Knowledge Feminine characterizations of knowledge aim at explanation and understanding instead of an adversarial determination of “facts” removed from their contexts This does not imply that women are “naturally” different from men (e.g., more sensitive or less objective); such essentialism ignores how even gender is a social construct What is knowable is determined by relations of power in a discipline Lorraine Code Michel Foucault

Constructivist Confusions: Alan Sokal To say that “physical reality is a social and linguistic construct” is to confuse: –objects in the world with what we say about them –how we get knowledge with its reliability –knowledge about the world with social, political, or ethical uses of such knowledge  Reply: objective/subjective distinctions are naïve, unjustified, and even dangerous