Description
Book SynopsisModern epistemology has run into several paradoxes in its efforts to explain how knowledge acquisition can be both socially based (and thus apparently context-relative) and still able to determine objective facts about the world. In this important book, Richmond Campbell attempts to dispel some of these paradoxes, to show how they are ultimately just ''illusions of paradox,'' by developing ideas central to two of the most promising currents in epistemology: feminist epistemology and naturalized epistemology. Campbell''s aim is to construct a coherent theory of knowing that is feminist and ''naturalized.'' Illusions of Paradox will be valuable for students and scholars of epistemology and women''s studies.
Trade ReviewAt every level—the naturalized epistemology, the feminist epistemology, and the work on moral realism—this book makes interesting contributions to topics of current debate. Campbell does a first-rate job of showing how his commitments on a wide range of topics serve to complement and reinforce one another. . . . This is an exciting book that will significantly advance discussion in the many areas to which it contributes. -- Hilary Kornblith, University of Vermont
Campbell's proposal of a realist conception of values as well as of facts is original and provocative . . . [E]ven those who have advocated a feminist and naturalized epistemology, myself included, have not advocated scientific or moral realism. Campbell makes a strong case for the view that feminist science critique and political critique would be strengthened by realism of both sorts, and a strong case for his approach to carving out viable accounts of each. -- Lynne Hankinson-Nelson, Rowan University
Campbell's book is well structured and most of his arguments are impressively clear and precise. * Mind: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Feminism and Empirical Knowledge Chapter 3 Understanding Feminist Empiricism Chapter 4 The Realism Question Chapter 5 Knowledge as Social and Reflexive Part 6 Feminism and Naturalized Epistemology Chapter 7 Normative Naturalized Epistemology Chapter 8 Self-Knowledge and Feminist Naturalism Part 9 Feminism, Meaning, and Value Chapter 10 Fact-Value Holism Chapter 11 Meaning-Value Holism Part 12 Feminism and Moral Knowledge Chapter 13 Feminist Contractarianism Chapter 14 Feminist Contractarianism Naturalized Chapter 15 Conclusion Chapter 16 Bibliography Chapter 17 Index
