The Common Rationality of Liberalism and Science through the Feminist Lens

Abstract

Feminism has produced a wide range of criticisms of both liberal political theory and modern science. In this paper we distinguish between the “reformist” versions and the “radical” versions of these criticisms. While the reformist versions
maintain that the object of criticism would be more consistent with its own values to the extent it incorporates the feminist perspective, the radical versions spot unsolvable problems in the set of values of both liberalism and modern science, thus advocating for their replacement. The paper concludes that the feminist critique of liberalism and science is a tool that unravels the common rationality between these two intellectual projects, though with different objectives. The former normative and the latter epistemic, are nonetheless connected in their ground aspiration to elaborate rules, adjudicate disagreements, and interpret reality from a supposedly “objective”, “universal”, “abstract” and “impartial” position.