Intro to Phil.
12:30-1:45 T-R
Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology
1. One concern is what to accept when faced with the dominant white male way of dealing with epistemology.
2. It is hard to be accepted as a black female with a different philosophy since the validation process doesn�t readily accept that which doesn�t support popular beliefs. Popular opinion holds that black females are inferior and ideas which go against this are dismissed. Black women are also limited to top academic positions. Also, black females have a different way of approaching epistemology than the popular way, and their methodology doesn�t fit in well with popular schools of though.
3. Wisdom, which is how knowledge is applied. Concrete experience is used to assess more abstract knowledge. Dialogue is also used to validate or invalidate a claim, because of the interconnectedness of the black people. Dialogue humanizes people, and that�s a big part of the Afrocentric Humanistic thought. Being a Feminist philosophy, the ethic of caring also applies, because truth can be seen as coming from the heart. Personal accountability is the last dimension since truth can depend on background and experience.
4. Does her claim that Afrocentric Feminist epistemology is different than traditional methodology make sense? Obviously. A different culture may find truth in a different way, there�s no doubt about it. If I tried to argue that blacks find truth in the same manner of white, I�d have no idea of what I�m talking about since I lack the experience to argue.
5. She�d answer that knowledge exists if it humanizes the knower, and empowers the knower, and/or the people around her. It needs to be able to be applied, to become wisdom.
Precis
In Toward an Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology, Patricia Hill Collins asserts that Afrocentric Epistemology validates knowledge in a way different than other conventional schools of thought. She defends this by saying that dialogue, and personal accountability are taken under consideration about whether something is true or not. Her purpose is to defend the Afrocentric Feminist school of thought so it�s not considered as inferior. Her audience is everyone. I agree with this because I lack the experience and knowledge not to.
Summary
It�s hard to think of something to say, so I guess I�ll turn into pragmatic Dave once again. I don�t see any part of philosophy as being true, nor do I see any part as being false. In the case of this article, I see the way that black females determine truth as good for them. I have my way of doing it, they have theirs. I could see someone arguing their knowledge on the basis of how they come to the conclusion that they believe something, but I�m not one of those people. The truth that people will accept is what works for them. Whether the truth is backed up by facts or not, it doesn�t matter because if their idea of truth allows them a stable vantage point in this world, that�s fine. I am skeptical myself because I hold very few beliefs, but I see other people�s beliefs as pragmatic. I look for the reason, and I don�t try to believe or disbelieve.
I guess I�ll get into a few specifics. This philosophy often uses concrete knowledge to back up claims. Would this technique fall under empiricism since many women need first-hand data to validate things? Overall, I see this philosophy as sort of a humanism which works to create a sense of community and unity among the members of the black female community. I guess I�m getting into cultural Anthropology too much, and should probably return to philosophy.
I don�t believe in a dualism, and this philosophy seems to me to shy away from dualistic thinking. Truth can depend on what sort of person is saying a statement, or individual uniqueness is valued because every person can accentuate each other, instead of trying to argue each other down like in Western methodology. Reality isn�t all black and white but rather shades of gray, purple, yellow, red, green, etc.