Graduation Year
2021
Date of Submission
5-2021
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Dr. Briana Toole
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2021 Abby DeShazo
Abstract
Research on healthcare disparities outside the field of epistemology tend to miss the true origins of oppressions imposed on marginalized individuals by the U.S healthcare system. This happens because of the false belief that these oppressions are reducible to social or political oppressions. By employing the perspective of a standpoint epistemologist, we can better identify the origins of these oppressions and subsequently consider more appropriate solutions. The standpoint epistemologist’s perspective (1) provides an intuitive case for the role individuals’ schemas play in the evaluation of what healthcare professionals know; (2) situates medical knowledge within epistemology, leading us to the determination of the system’s recalcitrance; (3) and lastly, provides us with new and appropriate diagnostic tools for addressing these distinctively epistemic oppressions. The standpoint epistemologist’s perspective is our only saving grace, because when we fail to consider medical knowledge as an epistemological system, we fail to understand the origins of these healthcare oppressions altogether.
Recommended Citation
DeShazo, Abby, "Medical Knowledge as a Recalcitrant Epistemological System: An Application of Standpoint Epistemology in the Analysis of Marginalization within U.S Healthcare" (2021). CMC Senior Theses. 2713.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2713
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