The Speed of Feminist Light

First pass at a response to video by DanaGarrett

I don't know what Sandra Harding was thinking of when she suggested that the speed of light would be different to a socialist female than to anyone else, maybe she was having a bad day, but it certainly doesn't reflect either her published views of feminism and epistemology or those of any other feminist critic of science that I know about. Good feminist critiques point out the strategy that is occasionally used whereby social facts (which are 'situated' and a fitting topic for standpoint theory) are presented as if they were empirical, in the same way that the speed of light is empirical. This is what is usually meant when feminists, or others, claim that scientific facts are socially construced by those with dominance. It does not mean that feminists think all science is a patriarchal plot or that facts vary according to the arrangement of your genitals.

With regard to the problem of 'why we can't all get along', my discomfort with this sentiment is not, of course, a signal that I don't care about inequality or think we should give up trying to improve the lot of those less fortunate than ourselves. To the extent that such improvements can by made however, this will largely be through the nuanced caresses of the soft sciences; sociology, psychology, political science; the underfunded and occasionally disparaged ugly sisters of top dog hard empiricism. Practices which, unlike the speed of light, do indeed require an understanding of situation and standpoint.

Why can't we all just get along? My liberal desire that everyone shares my good fortune is shadowed by the full knowledge that my fortune is a direct result of the fact that it is not shared, and so my hope that we all just get along is tantamount to my demanding friendship of the 13 year old sweatshop labourer who stiched the peak onto my hat.

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[WarMasterX6]

Well we still are all one connected to each other in our own ways even if thats hatred X3

[conferencereport]

@WarMasterX6

As my wife puts it "What can't be divided equally is shared through jealousy".

[WarMasterX6]

@conferencereport thats a good quote ^^

[DanaGarrett]

Prof. Harding made her statement in class to me and others in the early-to-mid 80s while she still taught at the Univ. of Delaware. I'm glad to hear that she holds a position now that would disavow such a view; perhaps she modified her views over time. But there is no question that at that time she claimed a socialist woman would measure the speed of light differently. I liked her. She often gave me cigarettes.

[SmoothInstigator]

@shameoncanada LOL. To everything? So how does socialism explain the fact that an electron can exist in 2 places simultaniously?

[Gunriffun9mm]

I like to think that we are all part of one big dysfunctional family. Something along the lines of, The Brady Bunch: gone to hell.

I've noticed that this 'new age'y/we are one mentality' has gotten pretty big as of late, after I saw that new movie, Avatar. Yep. People are gobbling it up. Mmm, yes, an perfect world crafted by imperfect minds. If only.