Illusions of Paradox

A Feminist Epistemology Naturalized

By (author) Richmond Campbell

Publication date:

07 May 1998

Length of book:

304 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780847689187

Modern 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.

Chapter 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

At 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.