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Essay / Feminist Epistemology Essay - 556
Epistemology is commonly known as the theory of knowledge. This is a discussion about how we acquire knowledge. Epistemology refers to the ways of knowing that form systems of social thought (Andersen, 1993). The idea of this term emphasizes that knowledge is socially constructed and that this type of thinking is rooted in a variety of implicit or explicit assumptions that guide its form. Meanwhile, feminist epistemology recognized a woman's experience as a legitimate source of knowledge. Feminist theory generally uses feminist epistemology to refer to women's experience or simply women's knowledge and it also concerns "whose knowledge" is taken into account. In other words, feminist epistemology is a relatively recent development in feminist theory. Examples of feminist epistemologies are feminist empiricism, standpoint theory, and postmodernism. In feminist epistemology, this raises some questions, both about the system of thought derived from male-centered ways of knowing and the other about new ways of constructing more inclusive and male-centered knowledge. ...