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Sandra Harding (born 1935) is an American philosopher of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology and philosophy of science. She has contributed to standpoint theory and to the multicultural study of science. She gained some notoriety for referring to Newton's Laws as a "rape manual" (Harding: 1986, pg. 113). The full quote is:

"One phenomenon feminist historians have focused on is the rape and torture metaphors in the writings of Sir Francis Bacon and others (e.g. Machiavelli) enthusiastic about the new scientific method. Traditional historians and philosophers have said that these metaphors are irrelevant to the real meanings and referents of scientific concepts held by those who used them and by the public for whom they wrote. But when it comes to regarding nature as a machine, they have quite a different analysis: here, we are told, the metaphor provides the interpretations of Newton's mathematical laws: it directs inquirers to fruitful ways to apply his theory and suggests the appropriate methods of inquiry and the kind of metaphyiscs the new theory supports. But if we are to believe that mechanistic metaphors were a fundamental component of the explanations the new science provided, why should we believe that the gender metaphors were not? A consistent analysis would lead to the conclusion that understanding nature as a woman indifferent to or even welcoming rape was equally fundamental to the interpretations of these new conceptions of nature and inquiry. Presumably these metaphors, too, had fruitful pragmatic, methodological, and metaphysical consequences for science. In that case, why is it not as illuminating and honest to refer to Newton's laws as "Newton's rape manual" as it is to call them "Newton's mechanics"?"

She is currently a professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and former Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Harding previously taught at the University of Delaware for many years. She earned her PhD from New York University (NYU) in 1973.

She has been part of an on-going debate regarding claims of scientific objectivity. Critiques of her work have been made by scientists Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt in Higher Superstition.

Bibliography

• Harding, Sandra and Merrill B. Hintikka, ed. Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. 1983.
• Harding, Sandra. The Science Question in Feminism. 1986.
• Harding, Sandra and Jean F. O'Barr, ed. Sex and Scientific Inquiry. 1987.
• Harding, Sandra. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women's Lives. 1991.
• Harding, Sandra. "Science is 'Good to Think With,'" Social Text 46-47, (1996): 15-26.

References

Gross, P. & Levitt, N.: Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science. Johns Hopkins University Press. 1994.

External links

• Sandra Harding, Feminist Philosopher of Science, Women's Studies Program, University of Alabama in Huntsville.
• "'Whose Science?': Sandra Harding's book nominated for award", University of Delaware press release, UpDate 11(3): 6, September 19, 1991.
• "Starting from Marginalized Lives: A Conversation with Sandra Harding" by Sidney I. Dobrin and Thomas Kent, JAC 15.2, Spring 1995.
• "Who’s Sandra Harding? Where’s She Standing?" by Arabella Lyon and Mary Conway, JAC 15.3, Fall 1995.
• "Women, Science, and Society" by Sandra Harding, Science, September 11, 1998.
• "SEDSAN Website Launch: Text of keynote speech given by Sandra Harding, QUT Dean of Business", July 28, 2000. (Archived at Wayback Machine, November 10, 2005.)

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