Back to Index
     
   

 

On Opacity, the Unconscious, Uncertainty and the Feminine

 (La Salle University, Costa Rica, 2006)


PH.D. DISSERTATION
by Constanza Rangel

 

The philosophical foundation for thIS dissertation is the emerging "new" or "holistic" paradigm. (The quotation marks are explained below.) This emerging paradigm is based on developments in quantum physics, systems theory, cybernetics and complexity theory.

These 20th century theoretical developments indicate a paradigmatic shift from the Newtonian hegemonic paradigm of the last 300 years. A scientific paradigm is a system of rules for the scientific "game", including structures for reasoning and rationality and cognitive rules, demarcated by the desires and emotions (subjectivity, biology) of persons in that field, which manifest in interactions that create an underlying dynamic, guiding scientific activity and supporting their explanatory schemas.

The Newtonian Paradigm epistemologically posits that a phenomena can be known and understood by using the scientific method in order to achieve a complete mental  representation of it; reality is outside of us and can be known and documented.

 

 

However, scientific advances in the 20th century throw doubt on the Newtonian idea of representing reality through theory, as have philosophy, the social sciences, psychoanalysis, feminism and some traditional knowledge systems. New theory in physics states that the mind works with ideas and that the relationships it makes are not representative of reality, but of this ideas.  Therefore, the "truth" of an idea is not determined by its correspondence with an absolute truth, but rather its consistency with our own experience.

And here is Constanza's thesis:  The authors proposing this paradigm (who are mostly men) note the importance of communicational, emotional and in certain forms, political expressions in human processes, but do not analyze in depth or detail some of the dimensions linked to political construction and human motivation because they have associated them with the feminine or with femininity.

And part of the problem is that in this "detail," gender expressions are blurred, entailing the risk of reflecting an a-historic homogenization of humanity that excludes, obscures and makes invisible contributions from the feminine and women, among others.

Constanza has developed her suspicions about how women's perspectives have been obscured, based on scientific and intellectual practices that confront or neutralize "the feminine." This world of science and intellectuality, has been institutionally decreed as the place where knowledge, and therefore paradigms, are built.

 

 
   

Back to Index

 


Alas de Mariposa | Background | Project Components | Butterfliers | Artistic Promotion

Letters of support | Project: News & Updates | Awards and Recognition | Contact us

Name of the show | Women featured in the show | Artistic Production | Executive Production | General Coordination | Musical show: News & Updates


WINGS OF THE BUTTERFLY Artistic Project
2008 - 2010
You may use the information and pictures by
citing the source www.alasdemariposa.org


TEL. (506)249-3084
E-MAIL: info@alasdemariposa.org


Web site design: Producciones Artemisa
partemisa@costarricense.cr