Search

Keller, Evelyn 1985. Dynamic Objectivity, Reflections on Gender and Science.

For this, I want to return to Shapiro's Autonomy and Rigid Character (1981), as well as to his earlier work, Neurotic Styles (1965). In the latter work, Shapiro described the cognitive counterparts of obsessive-compul sive and paranoid psychology; for completeness, I will add some remarks about the cognitive counterparts of sadism.The central concern of the obsessive-compulsive is control, not so much of others as of oneself.

According to the author, the capacity to employ an allocentric perception in the pursuit of objective knowledge of the world requires more than interest; it requires development of the capacity to distinguish self from Other. She also claims that "Allocentric perception is perception in the service of a love which wants to affirm others in their total and unique being." However, I wonder to what extent this is actually applicable to the social sciences. Our "objects" of analysis are humans, and the urge to "affirm others" in turn renders us the ones to do the affirming.