and UNIT 2 AND ITS Gender-Based Analysis CRITIQUE

Renu Addlakha

Structure

2.1 Introduction 2.2 Objectives 2.3 The Classical Scientific Method 2.4 Brief of the Classical Scientific Method 2.5 Basic Steps in the Classical Scientific Method 2.6 Classical Scientific Method and 2.7 Critique of the Scientific Method 2.8 Feminist Critique of the Scientific Method 2.9 Let Us Sum Up 2.10 Glossary 2.11 Unit End Questions 2.12 References 2.13 Suggested Readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION

After reading about what is feminist and gender based research in the previous unit, let us read about another associated aspect of conventional research that is scientific method. The units looks into what is meant by this term and how method qualified to named be named as scientific method evolved with the passage of time. The unit then dwells upon the steps of scientific method followed by it’s critique from a feminist perspective too. Before moving ahead, lets glance through the objectives of reading this unit.

2.2 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Describe the classical scientific method;

• Apply the classical scientific method in women and research;

• Explain feminist critique of the scientific method; and

• Use the basic steps of the scientific method in conceptualising a research problem in women and gender studies.

25 Feminist and Gender Based Research 2.3 THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Do you have answers to questions like:

• How is the world understood?

• How is reality gauged?

• How is knowledge gained?

Over the past three hundred years since the Enlightenment (go to glossary to know more about it), the ‘scientific method’ has emerged as the predominant, universally accepted approach to acquiring knowledge. As against religious faith, magic and superstition, the scientific method is a way of arriving at an empirical, impartial and reliable representation of the world. The basic assumptions of the scientific method are that reality is objective and consistent, that human beings have the capacity to perceive reality accurately and that rational explanations exist for understanding this reality. Essentially, it involves the application of a set of standardised procedures for asking questions, gathering information or ‘data’ to answer the questions and testing the validity, reliability and consistency of the results. Different modes of logical reasoning, existing theories and , classification and statistical procedures are used in combination to operationalise the scientific method with the aim of arriving at ‘truth’. In this Unit you will read a detailed description of this method, including a critique, to enable you to drawn upon it for your research.

The classical scientific method broadly refers to a set of procedures and techniques for acquiring knowledge. Historically, the foundations of this method were laid during the Enlightenment when European thought moved from a magico-religious understanding of reality to one dominated by reason and science. It involves positing logical connections between phenomena, gathering empirical and measurable evidence, confirming or refuting the proposed connections. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as ‘as a method or procedure that has characterised natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic , measurement and experiment, and the formulation, testing and modification of hypotheses’.

Generality, scientific method should give results that are not only capable of verification by others, but also that have universal applicability under similar conditions. Science is not concerned with individual cases or instances but with classes and groups of objects and events of which the individual is only a specimen.

26 Box No. 2.1 Scientific Method and Its Critique ‘Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating a phenomenon, acquiring new knowledge or correcting and integrating previous knowledge’ (Goldhaber and Nieto 2010: 940).

The Italian scientist Galileo (1564-1642) is considered the founder of the scientific method.

Let us now read the historical background of emergence of scientific method in the realm of research.

2.4 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD

The scientific method is not a purely modern invention because ancient Egyptian documents describe application of empirical methods in astronomy, mathematics and medicine. Greek philosopher Thales (624 BC–546 BC) rejected religious, magical and supernatural explanations. He proclaimed that every event has a natural cause. Another Greek philosopher (384-322 BC) is regarded as the inventor of the scientific method because of his detailed study of . Experimental methods were developed by Islamic scholars like Alhazen (965 -1040 AD) who worked on optics and physiology.

The development of the scientific method as the principal mode of acquiring knowledge emerged during the Renaissance through the works of numerous pioneering scientists and philosophers such as Nicolaus Copernicus (1473- 1543) who showed that it was not the earth but the sun which was the centre of the solar system; William Harvey (1578-1657) who described in accurate detail the functioning of the human circulatory system, Robert Boyle (1627-1691) regarded by many as the ‘Father of Modern Chemistry’ and many others who performed controlled experiments providing elaborate details concerning procedure, apparatus and . Perhaps, the most well known of these great scientists is without doubt (1942-1727). Francis Bacons’s Novum Organum (1620) and Rene Descartes (1637) on Method provided the theoretical foundation of the classical scientific method.

In contrast to faith, dogma and tradition embodied in religious belief and superstition, these thinkers advocated what would today be called the ‘scientific temper’. The basic features of the scientific temper are

• A belief in an underlying order in that is knowable through reason.

• The idea that every natural phenomenon has a cause which can be known.

• The universal accessibility to understanding nature through a set of methodological procedures based on observation, measurement, classification, experimentation, verification and prediction. 27 Feminist and Gender Truth is not based on blind faith in the word of God found in the scriptures Based Research but available to anyone following the method(s) of science. For example, the geocentric model of the solar system was replaced by the heliocentric model proposed by Copernicus which was based on observation of planetary motions through telescopes, while the earlier theory was based on religious faith not backed by actual observation. Science is conceptualized as an objective enterprise and the scientific approach aims to minimize the influence of bias of the individual scientist on the results of the research.

Before proceeding ahead, take up the following exercise.

Check Your Progress:

i) What is understood by scientific method and scientific temper ?

ii) What are the main features of the scientific method and its approach to knowledge.

In the next section, you will read about the basic steps that need to be carried out in conducting research in the classical scientific method. 28 Scientific Method and Its 2.5 BASIC STEPS IN THE CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC Critique METHOD

You have read in the earlier section that the scientific method consists of systematic observation, definition, classification, measurement, analysis and interpretation. These activities are performed in a standardised sequential manner from the conceptualisation of a research question, developing a research design for answering them, interpretation of the results and prediction and verification of the same.

Box No 2.2 Scientific knowledge is cumulative or incremental in the sense that existing theories are fertile sources of new hypotheses, which are subjected to experimental verification leading to the development of new theories and laws.

The critical characteristic of the scientific method lies in the procedure or steps involved in proposing hypotheses to explain phenomena, and designing experimental studies to test them in such a fashion that we may arrive at universally accepted . The procedure should enable other researchers to arrive at the same results when doing the experiment under similar conditions. This section will familiarise you with the various steps involved in the classical scientific method.

The main steps or stages of the application of the scientific method are:

1) Observation and description of phenomenon;

2) Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon. In the classical scientific method of which physics is the paradigmatic example, it takes the form of a causal mechanism or mathematical relation;

3) Using the hypothesis to predict existence of other phenomenon or the results of new observations;

4) Performance of experiments to test the hypothesis (see Glossary) by several impendent researchers. If all the researchers come to the same results, then the hypothesis will become a theory or . Experimental verification is the key for the success of the scientific method.

Science evolves gradually building upon existing knowledge. Scientific theories vary in the extent to which they have been experimentally tested and for how long and in their acceptance in the . All is closely tied to empirical findings, and hence always remains subject to falsification in the event of a contradictory finding. In that sense scientific knowledge is always provisional. Two contemporary examples will illustrate the provisional nature of scientific knowledge. Current work in 29 Feminist and Gender quantum and particle physics contests Einstein’s general theory of relativity Based Research according to which nothing travels faster than light. According to current thinking in quantum theory, there are possibly subatomic particles that move faster than light. This is a hypothesis subject to experimentation. On the other hand, there is a general belief that the Earth is not the only habitable planet in the universe. The recent discovery of a number of earth-like planets orbiting distant stars that could sustain life forms, is a hypothesis but there are no methods available at present to test it.

Box No. 2.3

Hypothesis: It is a general statement about a relationship between phenomena that is open to being tested or becoming the subject of a systematic investigation. It may be derived logically from existing data or may be a stray hunch, guess or observation. Analogies or similarities are an important source of hypotheses. The hypothesis should be specific, conceptually clear, related to available theories and techniques so that it can be tested.

A critical element of the scientific method is reducing the influence of bias or prejudice of the researcher. is an ideal pre-requisite of the scientific method. Objectivity is the characteristic of something that is not influenced by either changing contextual conditions or the observer. For example, gold is yellow because it appears the same to all human eyes, but if we say it is a precious metal, then, that is not an objective characteristic of the metal. The ideal model of the researcher is an emotionally detached observer whose values and beliefs do not interfere with the experiment. This stance is called value neutrality, which assumes that social, political and moral values should play no role in the search for truth.

One of the ways of guaranteeing objectivity is reliance on quantitative data or numbers. Hence the great importance attached to counting and measurement of variables in the scientific method. Operational definitions of relevant variables, preferably in quantitative terms, are de rigueur in science, such as measurement of temperature in degrees centigrade, power in volts or electrical current in amperes. The that quantitative data can be subjected to statistical manipulation and represented in tables and graphs confers upon it a greater level of objectivity than representation of information in the form of qualitative data or language.

An experiment can take several forms; for example, a classical laboratory experiment under controlled conditions or an archaeological excavation. Often, in the classical experimental design, the experimental and control group strategy are adopted, wherein both the groups are similar is every way possible except that the former is exposed to the phenomenon under

30 study while the latter is not. The difference in the results is then attributed Scientific Method and Its Critique to the variable under study.

Since prediction of results and replication of the experiment under similar conditions by other researchers are critical in the verification process, detailed record keeping and archiving of the whole process are crucial components of the scientific method. Other scientists must be able to repeat the experiment and duplicate the results or arrive at the same results following the same approach. International journals like Science and Nature mandate a of data and methods archiving as part of the peer review process, so that others can repeat the process for verification.

It will be noticed that the scientific method is a more systematic and refined version of ordinary logical thinking wherein experience presents us with a problem. We try to solve the problem by guessing a possible reason or cause which becomes a prediction. Then, we test our conjecture to see if our guess is correct or not. If we are right, then we have an explanation. If we are wrong, then we make another guess and go through the process again. This is referred to as the iterative cycle. Forms of reasoning in scientific research like deductive and inductive inference are more refined versions of everyday logical thinking that we all engage in.

Let us now read about why it important to adopt scientific method in social science research.

2.6 CLASSICAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Let us understand that the exemplary location for testing of this method is the laboratory setting, where conditions can be controlled for experimentation and results can be derived in the form of causal connections. The disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology have developed through this approach which is why they are called experimental sciences.

But what happens when we want to study human behaviour and society? Can the classical scientific method be equally successfully applied to finding causal connections when the focus of enquiry shifts from the experimental to the social and human sciences? The following section discusses the main problems of application of the classical method to the study of social phenomena.

Social scientists tried to apply the techniques of the natural sciences for the study of human psyche and society. But it was soon found that social reality is very different, and it is not possible to apply the classical scientific method without modification for its study due to the following reasons:

31 Feminist and Gender • Complexity of Social Data: No two persons are exactly alike and even Based Research the behaviour of the same individual varies under different circumstances. So, it is difficult to generalise about social phenomena in the form of universal cause-effect relationships. For example, most people will run away from a burning building, but some may stay behind risking their own lives to save others.

• Social Phenomeona is Unpredictible: Due to the complexity of social phenomena, it is difficult to predict human behaviour and arrive at laws that are universally true under identical circumstances. This is in contrast to the high level of predictability that prevails in the case of physical and chemical phenomena.

• Plurality of Causes and Intermixture of Effects: Not only do social phenomena have a range of causes, but it is also difficult to clearly distinguish between cause and effect in the case of social data. For instance, higher rates of crime in a city may be due to unemployment, inflation and/or lax policing. Then, poverty may lead to higher rates of disability in society because more people become disabled due to lack of access to adequate nutrition and healthcare; but disability may also lead to poverty in that more disabled persons will find it difficult to get and maintain a job because they are disabled, leading to a higher incidence of poverty among disabled persons.

• Social Phenomena are Heterogeneous: Since there are multiple causes and it is difficult to demarcate between causes and effects, the relative homogeneity detected in natural phenomena gives way to a high level of diversity and heterogeneity in the case of social phenomena.

• Difficulty in Measurment and Quantification: Due to such diversity, it is difficult to quantify and consequently measure social categories. This is unlike the case of mass, weight, gravity, current and other physical and chemical phenomena. For instance, urbanisation, indiscipline, assimilation and other social concepts are difficult to translate in quantitative terms.

• Subjectivity of the Researcher and Objectivity of the Research: Since the subject and object of study, namely human beings, are the same, the experimental method becomes particularly difficult to apply. Then, laboratory experimentation is difficult in the case of human behaviour and social phenomena because it would introduce an artificiality in the research as subjects would be aware that they are being studied challenging the possibility of complete objectivity. Moreover, in the case of social data the issue of bias of the researcher and objectivity of findings also arises.

32 The aforementioned notwithstanding, the basic of the classical Scientific Method and Its Critique scientific method does form the backbone of most social science research including research in interdisciplinary areas like women and gender studies. Indeed, one cannot deny the fact that under similar circumstances, most persons behave in similar ways. Concepts of objectivity, because effect relationships and verification have been complemented with concepts of inter subjectivity and interpretation, to make the classical scientific method more amenable to the study of human behaviour and society. Laboratory- based experimentation has been replaced with other data collection methods like interviews, questionnaires and field observations.

Box No. 2.4

Social research essentially involves using experience to arrive at a conjecture, testing the conjecture, arriving at a result, making some prediction from the result and then testing it out again.

The main steps for conducting the research involve:

1) Defining the problem and formulating a set of key research questions;

2) Gathering information to answer the questions;

3) Arriving at some explanation for the problem after collecting and analysing the relevant data;

4) Interpreting the data.

5) Disseminating the results to other members of the social science community.

Attempt the following exercise to assess your understanding of the last couple of sections.

Check Your Progress:

i) Write the basic steps of classical scientific method.

33 Feminist and Gender Based Research ii) Define value neutrality.

iii) Give reasons why classifical scientific method cannot be applied in social sciences without modification.

After reading about what is scientific method of research and how to apply it, it also becomes important to read critique of the scientific method.

2.7 CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

The paradigm of acquiring knowledge embedded in the scientific method that came into prominence from the Enlightenment dominated for over 300 years when it came under scrutiny. Historians and philosophers of science highlighted the disjunction between the canons of the scientific method and their actual practice in concrete contexts highlighting in particular the subjectivity of the individual scientist and the strong role of existing theories in deciding the nature and type of observations made in impacting the research process. Sociological and historical studies of science like the works of (1891-1976), Ludvik Fleck (1896-1961), (1904-1994), (1922-1974) and (1922-1996) and (1924-1994) have highlighted the socio-cultural roots of 34 the scientific method. Through detailed analysis of the actual practice of Scientific Method and Its Critique science in concrete settings, they have shown how the ideals of pure science such as universality, objectivity and value-neutrality are more ideological concepts than actual facts when operationalised in the actual process of research.

The heuristic model of the scientific method and its practical application i.e. the gap between the theory and practice of science is the source of such criticism. Social science studies of science contend that sscience is a social process since the experimental results must be reproducible by others in the scientific community. For instance, Thomas Kuhn (1962) felt that scientists work with preconceived notions and theories which subtly impact their observations and measurements. Once a theory is accepted by the scientific community, it not only becomes untestable but it forms the basis of other theories constituting a veritable norm. According to Ludwik Fleck (1979), scientists must examine their own biases and experiences to understand how it impacts their research.

There are many possible critiques of the scientific method, from many different viewpoints and for many different reasons. One of the most powerful criticisms is that in the garb of objectivity, a great deal of bias and prejudice is cloaked. For instance, racism underlies the science of eugenics just as sexism colours reproductive biology. In fact, the inhuman medicinal research carried out during the Nazi regime in Germany was embedded in a radical notion of science completely bypassing the whole issue of human morality. It is due to this massive abuse of science that research ethics emerged as a critical moderator of the scientific method to protect human subjects against harm arising out of research, particularly medical research.

Here in this unit, we will confine ourselves to a detailed account of the feminist critique of science and the scientific method in the following concluding section.

2.8 FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Feminists like Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and Helen Longino among others have mounted a detailed and strident critique of the scientific method by contesting its conceptions of knowledge, truth, rationality and objectivity. Modes of scientific reasoning have also been criticised. For instance, feminist theoreticians contend that binary thinking which represents masculine and feminine as opposite is deeply embedded in Rene’ Descartes dualism which makes a clear distinction between mind and body. Feminism contests the notion of a detached knower and value neutrality. It believes that all knowledge is ‘situated knowledge’ in which the social cultural, political values of the knower play a role. In that sense 35 Feminist and Gender it does not believe in the idea and the ideal of objectivity as conceptualised Based Research in the scientific method.

Feminist critique attempts to identify androcentric and sexist biases in the practice of science. It has been able to identify such biases particularly in the disciplines of biology and , especially in theories of women and gender differences that legitimate sexist practices.

Feminists scholars argue that science and disadvantage women and other vulnerable groups by subordinating their interests. For instance, the ways economic development reinforce gender hierarchy by focussing on men. Another level of criticism is the actual absence of ad technology, which is embedded in the system that systematically discourages women from pursuing studies in certain disciplines e.g. physics and mathematics, while encouraging them in others e.g. social sciences, and languages.

The social location of the researcher and situated knowledge are key concepts in the feminist critique of science and in feminist methodology. The underlying concepts of feminist research are summarised below:

• The social location of the researcher defines the object of study: Social location refers to a person’s gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, caste, kinship, occupation, religion etc. In that sense, the whole debate on value neutrality and detachment between observer and the phenomenon under study becomes redundant from a feminist perspective. Feminist theoreticians contend that the way knowledge is generated is deeply gendered, implying that the scientific method is itself flawed because it reflects a male perspective of the world.

• Reflexivity: It is the process of the researcher making explicit her social location, interests, background assumptions, biases and other features of themselves showing how they shape the questions, methods and interpretations of the research. Reflexivity directly challenges the notion of value neutrality because it beings with the idea that there is no possibility of doing any research without factoring in the perspective(s) of those undertaking the research.

• Situated Knowledge and Objectivity: The fact that knowledge is deeply context-dependant where it is produced and connected to the location of the researcher does not mean that it is not objective. Indeed, Evelyn Fox Keller’s (1985) notion of ‘dynamic objectivity’ and Sandra Harding’s (1991) notion of ‘strong objectivity’ show that objectivity is not a universal taken-for-granted concept either. In contrast to the obsessive compulsion to maintain distance and detachment from the object of study found in traditional notions of objectivity, dynamic objectivity does not have the neurotic anxiety to the maintain independence of the subject from the object of study. 36 In recognition of the intertwined relationship between power and Scientific Method and Its Critique knowledge, strong objectivity underscores the standpoint of marginalised groups in the generation of objective knowledge. According to Sandra Harding, knowledge produced by subordinate groups has an edge because it unpacks many of the unquestioned categories that the knowledge by powerful groups naturalises. Subaltern perspectives are a form of situated knowledge that not only give voice to marginalised knowledges but may also challenge the underpinnings of their own subordination. Strong objectivity incorporates democratic inclusion with reflexivity.

• Emotional Engagement: Abstract, theoretical, emotionally detached, analytic and quantitative thinking that are intrinsic to the scientific method are regarded as typically ‘masculine’ cognitive styles. On the other hand, intuitive, holistic, contextual, practical, emotionally involved, relational and qualitative modes of thinking are labelled ‘feminine’. (Rooney 1991). Keller’s notion of dynamic objectivity calls for a fruitful emotional engagement with the object of study. That is why qualitative methods like that seek identification with the objects/ subjects of study have been given preference by feminist scholars. However, this does not mean that cannot be done from a feminist perspective.

Box No 2.5

One may say that the scientific method has been critiqued by feminist scholars for its androcenetricsm, overgeneralisation, gender insensitivity and sexual double standards. Feminist research approaches and methods emphasise on experience, pluralism, and the epistemic advantage of disadvantaged groups. They highlight the interplay of facts and values, the centrality of situated knowledge and the need to move beyond ideas of regulation and control that are intrinsically masculine in nature.

Examples of Gender Blind Perspectives in Science: The ‘sexism or sexist bias in science has come in for particular scrutiny in biology. Narrative of sperm and egg casts the former as the active agent while the latter is passive obscuring the causal role of the latter in fertilisation (Martin 1991).

Similarly, depicting the transition from ape to hominid as a heroic drama puts the focus on presumptively male activities like hunting as the driver of evolution obscuring the role of other equally but more presumptively female or gender neutral activities and behaviours like food gathering, child care and language as the engine of evolution (Haraway 1989).

37 Feminist and Gender Based Research 2.9 LET US SUM UP

This unit has described the main features of the classical scientific method as it evolved in the experimental sciences over the past 300 years. This method has contributed to the development of the many scientific discoveries and technological that are the architecture of modern life. However, science is not without its critics. The scientific method has come in for criticism from many directions within the social sciences since the 1930s. Philosophers, historians and sociologists of science like Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi among a host of others have shown how the social context in which science is practised influences its methodology, theory and results. Taking this critique to another level feminist scholars like Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and Helen Longino have shown that science is gender insensitive and biased both in theory and practice. Feminist science exposes the sexist and androcentric biases in scientific research, especially in theories about women, sexuality and gender differences. This is done by highlighting the influence of social and political factors in what is described as a neutral in the search for knowledge and truth.

2.10 GLOSSARY

Androcentrism :(from andro in Greek meaning male) is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at the center of one’s view of the world and its culture and history. The related adjective is androcentric,

Empirical : Adjective referring to information gained by means of observation or experimentation. A central concept in the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. It is usually differentiated from the philosophic usage of by the use of the adjective empirical or the adverb empirically. The term refers to the use of hypotheses that are testable using observation or experiment. In this sense of the word, scientific statements are subject to, and derived from, our experiences or observations

Enlightenment : An intellectual movement that began in Europe during the 18th century heralding the supremacy of reason and science over dogma religion and tradition. The leading thinkers of this movement were Rene Descartes, Baruch 38 Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, , Thomas Scientific Method and Its Critique Hobbes, and John Locke, The roots of the scientific method lie in their works.

Eugenics : An applied medical science or the biosocial movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population “, usually referring to human populations. Particularly popular in the early decades of the 20th century, it has posed serious ethical and political challenges particularly its role in the Naxi programme of racial cleansing during the Second World War.

Hypothesis : A limited statement about the relationship between phenomena in terms of cause and effect. This is a common form of reasoning in everyday life which we all adopt; for instance, if the gas in your kitchen does not work after you have lit it, you may at the first instance hypothesise that the cylinder is not turned on; if the cylinder is on, you may find out if the cylinder is empty or not. That is another hypothesis. If you find it its empty, you order a new cylinder, but if you discover that it still has gas, you may formulate another hypothesis, or you may call the gas repairman to resolve the problem.

Renaissance : A cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy and then spreading to the rest of Europe. It encompassed a flowering of literature, science, art, religion, and politics, and a resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspectives in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform. This intellectual transformation has resulted in the Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the middle Ages and the Modern era.

2.11 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the role of the researcher in the study of physical and social sciences with a particular focus on issues of subjectivity, bias and prejudice.

2) Critically evaluate the feminist critique of science.

3) Critically evaluate and comment on the following statement: ‘Feminist methodology corrupts the search for truth by its ideological position of equating science with patriarchy’. 39 Feminist and Gender 4) What do understand by ‘situated knowledge’? Do you think it is an Based Research improvement upon the classical scientific perspective of the researcher as ‘detached’? Discuss ?

2.11 REFERENCES

Bacon, F. (1620/1898). Novum Organum or True Suggestions for the Interpretation of Nature Verulam, Lord Francis (ed). London and New York.

Descartes, R. (1937/1960). Discourse on Method and Meditations . L. J. Lafleur (trans.). New York: The Liberal Arts Press.

Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. T. J. Trenn and R.K. Merton (eds.), F. Bradley and T. J. Trenn (trans). Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

Goldhaber, A. S. and M.M. Nieto (2010). Photon and Graviton Mass Limits, Rev. Mod. Phys. (American Physical Society) 82.

Haraway, D. J. (1989). Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. London and New York: and Kegan Paul.

Fox Keller, E (1985). Reflections on Gender and Science. New Haven/ London: Yale University Press.

Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Martin, E. (1991). The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male and female roles. Signs (Journal of women in culture and society) 16(3): 485-501.

Rooney, P.(1991). Gendered reason: Sex Metaphor and Conceptions of Reason. Hypatia 6(1).

2.12 SUGGESTED READINGS

Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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