The Good Fight You Just Won't Understand!
Sep 11, 2021
Rachel Fraser, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oxford, delves into how our social identities shape perceptions of the political world. She discusses the debated idea of whether the oppressed possess unique insights into injustices, cautioning against oversimplified views of knowledge. Fraser also tackles the intricate relationship between lived experiences and political discourse, emphasizing the complexities of communication across identity groups. Their conversation highlights the need for nuanced understanding in feminist and standpoint epistemology.
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Social Position Shapes What You Know
- Social location shapes evidence because different lives produce different experiences.
- Combining empiricism with lived experience yields a modest, plausible situated-knowledge thesis.
Intersectionality Undermines A Single Core Experience
- Intersectionality shows there is no single experiential core for broad groups like 'women'.
- Political solidarity therefore cannot rest on assuming uniform experience across any large identity category.
Oppression Gives Some Insight But Also Excludes
- Oppression brings epistemic injuries as well as insights; advantage often accrues to the powerful.
- Standpoint theory in careful forms acknowledges both exclusion and the possibility of particular valuable insights.
