關懷立場論的知識優勢︰ 背負關懷價值的強客觀性

Epistemological Privilege of Caring Standpoint Theory: Care-Laden Value as Strong Objectivity

關懷倫理學（the ethics of care）和立場論（standpoint theory）都是發展於70與80年代的重要女性主義理論，兩者都是根據女性身處的社會邊陲位置來對道德與科學的中心主導思想進行批判，進而鼓吹不同於主流的另類道德與科學研究典範。在近三十年的理論與實務發展中，兩理論各自循著道德和科學領域，不斷補充修正各自理論的缺失以因應內外的質疑與批評，並且持續強化其理論內涵以彰顯性別化研究在道德與科學上的正當性與必要性。同樣的，發展至今，兩理論在各自的領域中仍然是非主流的研究取向，關懷倫理學往往被視為德行倫理學（virtue ethics）的輔助理論，而立場論的科學哲學觀則越來越趨向與女性主義經驗主義（feminist empiricism）合而併之。兩理論所各自標榜的「不同聲音」也似乎就要同樣的再度埋沒於道德和科學主流的概念架構中。本文主旨在於彙整關懷倫理學和立場論，從而建立關懷立場論（caring standpoint theory），據而闡述關懷立場論對於知識生產的正面意義，辯護其所具有的知勢優勢與客觀性，主張事實／價值／德行（fact/value/virtue）不可分而論之的科學模式，彰顯知識証成應該背負關懷價值，關懷價值的實質內容不是開放所有可能的價值，而是能夠達於人類共善而具有的知識顯著性。

Ethics of care and Feminist standpoint theory have been two of the leading feminist theories since 1970s and 80s, both of which are based upon women’s marginal social positions as caretakers in the households and care-related works across all levels of society, and both theories have been challenging against mainstream (malestream) moral traditions, as well as mainstream for the scientific tradition, in terms of making plausible an alternative moral and scientific research paradigm. For the past three decades, care ethicists and standpoint theorists have been constantly taking upon critiques from all sides (feminists and non feminists) so as to make theoretical revisions necessary for the legitimacy of gendered research both in moral and scientific discipline. Ethics of care is taken to be supplementary to virtue ethics, whereas standpoint theory is inclined to merge with feminist empiricism. As it turns out, two contemporary leading feminist theories, to my judgment, are gradually fading away from their distinctive voices in the dominant moral and scientific conceptual systems. This paper aims at uniting ethics of care and feminist standpoint theory by cross referencing upon each other, and from there, I propose that the two views merge into what I will call caring standpoint theory. To that purpose, I will elaborate the substantial contents of caring standpoint theory insofar as how they can make intelligible the conception of strong objectivity. Moreover, I will defend the merged view in terms of its contributions to knowledge productions, in particular the view that the confirmation of knowledge should be laden with caring value. Likewise, different from the dominant view that have kept separate science, society (values) and ethics, caring standpoint theorists, as I conclude, are committed to the values of common good closely tied to labor of love, for the reason that they are epistemically significant to scientific objectivity.