Timeline: Helen Longino's Contribution of Philosophy of Science

Jul 13, 1944

Birth

Helen Longino is an American philosopher of science who has argued for the significance of values and social interactions to scientific inquiry. She has written about the role of women in science and is an important figure in feminist epistemology.

1990

Science as Social Knowledge

Helen Longino has been recognized for her contributions to the philosophy of science because of her stance on social values in the scientific theory that is mentioned in her first book, Science as Social Knowledge. She argues that social values are unable to be eliminated from theory in science, and because of that we should rewrite our ideals in order to incorporate this fact.

2000

Standpoint on Feminism

Helen Longino doesn’t believe that there are male or female perspectives, but that there should be a feminist perspective when it comes to science. "Feminist epistemology and philosophy of science studies the ways in which gender does and ought to influence our conceptions of knowledge, the knowing subject, and practices of inquiry and justification."

2001

Helen Longino's Philosophy

Longino’s philosophy of science includes, humans beliefs, values and biases will dictate which types of data support particular theories, hypotheses, and that even supporting evidence is either relevant or irrelevant by those things and will at times leave gaps in what we know and understand.

2002

The Fate of Knowledge

Longino's book The Fate of Knowledge (2002) explores and attempts to reconcile the accounts of knowledge of philosophers of science. The argument she makes tells us that the value free thinking is not accessible because moral and social values can play a huge role in determining which epistemic values scientists emphasize when they evaluate theories. These factors should be taken into consideration when understanding hypotheses.

2021