Perspectives and Pluralities

Helen Longino (Stanford University)

Abstract

This lecture will explore how the same phenomenon assumes different forms from different research perspectives and consequences of this for our understanding of scientific knowledge.

Biography

Helen Longino’s teaching and research interests are in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy.  She is the author of The Fate of Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 2002), and many articles in the philosophy of science, feminist philosophy and epistemology.  Among her many co-edited volumes is the Scientific Pluralism, Vol. XIX of the Minnesota Studies in Philosophy of Science.  Her most recent book is Studying Human Behavior (The University of Chicago Press, 2013), which regards comparative analysis of five approaches in the sciences of human behavior, focusing on research on both sexual behavior and aggression.  This analysis includes both an examination of the logical structures and interrelations of these approaches and study of their social and cultural reception and uptake.