Feminist theory, it should be mentioned from the beginning of the paper, is not a unified theory. As women experience the social world differently (according to class, age or “race”), there exist different feminist standpoints within the feminist tradition – i.e. Marxist or Postmodernist feminists (and this explains the need to talk of Feminisms – in plural). In general though, feminist theorists in order to explain the marginal position women’s issues hold in the social sciences – and why they are merely “added on” in the academic discourse, focus their critique upon traditional scientific approaches existing in the social sciences, offering alternative theories of knowledge. In addition, they attack concepts that originate from the founding fathers of each discipline (i.e. Durkheim in Sociology), and which still hold an exceptional position in the social sciences. For example, feminists believe that the concepts of scientific neutrality, or objectivity, or the belief that we can achieve “pure” knowledge of the social world, have all contributed to the androcentric status of the social sciences.

However, conventional epistemologies (and for the purpose of this paper we will limit our discussion of conventional epistemologies referring to the positivist tradition), exclude in their discussion women. As S. Harding puts forward (1987), “epistemology” answers questions about who can be a “knower” and what tests beliefs must pass in order to be legitimated as knowledge. Yet,

16. Sydie R A. 1993. Natural Women – Cultured Men: A Feminist Perspective on Sociological Theory. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Considering now another feminist epistemology – the lesbian one we can see how diverge feminist epistemologies are. The starting point of this epistemology is that “women” is a social category defined in terms of economic, physical (or other) dependency on men (Stanley and Wise, 1990). As a result, they view women as a

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Stanley Wise, Durkheim Sydie, Millman Kanter, Durkheim Sociology, Weber Durkheim, Marxist Postmodernist, University Press, RESEARCH Feminist, social sciences, stanley wise, social world, London ROUTLEDGE, university press, social research, conventional epistemologies, feminist epistemologies, Calgary Press, milton keynes university, keynes university, milton keynes, social theory, keynes university press, methodology milton keynes, feminism methodology milton, stanley wise 1990,