FEMINIST STANDPOINT AS POSTMODERN STRATEGY

Postmodern critiques of standpoint theory have been particularly influ ential in feminist theory, but I maintain that they are often mistaken . In this essay, I will briefly review the most common criticisms and show how Hartsock's formulation addresses many of them and indeed shar es many features of postmodernism through the notion of multiple femin ist standpoints. Though several feminists have urged such pluralizatio n, I identify a more intractable difficulty with such a strategy and a rgue for a new way of conceptualizing the ''materialist'' dimensions o f ''experience'' that may be more palatable to postmodern notions of d iscursiveness without giving away Hartsock's methodological foundation .