Literatur: Othering blindness – on modern epistemological politics
| Titel: | Othering blindness – on modern epistemological politics |
| AutorIn: | Michael Schillmeier |
| Textart: | Artikel |
| Stichworte: | Geschichte, Politik, Theoretische Grundlagen der Disability Studies |
| Inhalt: | Since the 17th century, the ‘blind restored to light’ has become a relevant epistemological figure
attracting philosophical, scientific, medical and pedagogical attention. Drawing on a key text of modernity, John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690/1991), this paper analyses the historical constitution of blindness within modern epistemological concerns, whose social and political consequences can be traced to the present. Blindness is reduced to being (1) a mere function of vision (its lack); (2) an individual impairment; and (3) a state of epistemological ignorance. Moreover, Locke’s Essay introduces the bifurcation of nature into primary and secondary qualities. We will argue that this division still plays a crucial role in contemporary studies of disability, when individual and social models of disability are opposed. In concluding, the paper proposes a new epistemology that includes blindness instead of ‘othering’ it through exclusion. |
| Informationen zur Autorin / zum Autor: | Autor ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Sotiologie der LMU München |
| HerausgeberIn: | Disability & Society |
| Herausgabejahr: | 2006 |
| Herausgabeort: | Leeds |
Diese Information stammt von Michael Schillmeier (nichtbehindert), m.schillmeier@lmu.de.
