The theory, rooted in feminist epistemology, that marginalized social positions can provide epistemic advantages—insights unavailable from dominant perspectives. Someone who experiences both the dominant culture (as they must to survive) and their own marginalized culture has double vision: they see things that those fully inside power cannot. Scientific Standpoint doesn't claim that marginalized people are automatically right—it claims they have access to questions, problems, and perspectives that others miss. Good science seeks out these standpoints not for diversity's sake, but because they see ghosts the center cannot.
"The clinical trial only included men, so the drug's effects on women were invisible for decades. Scientific Standpoint says: had women been in the room designing the research, this ghost would have been seen from the start. Marginalized perspectives aren't just fair—they're better science."
by Abzugal February 23, 2026
Get the Scientific Standpoint mug.