Relativism or Anti-Anti-Relativism? Epistemological and Rhetorical Moves in Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

Kathrin Hönig (1)

1 UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich

Feminist approaches in epistemology and philosophy of science have frequently been labelled as 'relativist', both by feminist as well as by non-feminist philosophers. Regularly the so labelled distance themselves from even the mere suspicion of relativist tendencies. There is a remarkable discrepancy between an attributed and a self-declared relativism. Taking the self-declared relativism of Lorraine Code as an example, the article argues that it is a case of a rhetorical not epistemological relativism, better termed as anti-anti-relativism, but that there are nevertheless good reasons for feminists to follow Code along that path.

Mots clés: epistemology; feminism; philosophy of science; relativism

Kathrin Hönig. Relativism or Anti-Anti-Relativism? Epistemological and Rhetorical Moves in Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science. European Journal of Women's Studies, 2005, 12 (4), pp.407-419. ⟨10.1177/1350506805057098⟩. ⟨hal-00571253⟩