Sharon Crasnow works on epistemological issues in the methodology of the social sciences. Her focus is primarily on feminist epistemology and philosophy of science and conceptual and measurement issues in the social sciences.
What excites you about philosophy?
One of the most exciting things about philosophy is that it is a field in which you can explore almost anything. Even though much philosophy is exceedingly narrow, it doesn’t have to be!
What is your favorite thing that you’ve written?
I’d say that I have two favorite pieces. One is among my first publications, and the other is my most recent. The early one is “How Natural Can Ontology Be?” in Philosophy of Science, March 2000, and the recent one is “Objectivity and Measurement in Political Science,” in Philosophy of Science, 2026. These are papers for which the basic idea just came to me clearly, and although it took time to work out the details, I knew from the start what it was that I wanted to say. I still think that the main idea in the 2000 paper is right and consistent with all my subsequent work. It tackles the scientific realism versus anti-realism debate. (I also really like the title.) The recent paper is an application of an approach to thinking about objectivity in social science that I have been developing for a while.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
I am most proud of the professional service work that I have done that is related to women in philosophy. I was on the APA Committee for the Status of Women in the early 2000s, and while doing work for that committee, I woke up to the fact that not much had changed for women in philosophy since I had been in graduate school in the late 1970s. I had been busy with my personal and professional life and hadn’t really been paying attention. While on the committee, I both participated in and organized a number of panels that addressed issues that were affecting women in philosophy and wrote several pieces for the APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy. I am proud to have played a small role during a period when women philosophers were bringing attention to these issues of marginalization. I also served as the president of the Society for Analytical Feminism for several years. This organization provided a venue for feminist work at a time when there weren’t many. I am also very proud of both The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Philosophy of Science (edited with Kristen Intemann) and Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (co-authored with Kristen Intemann).
What are you working on right now?
I am writing an encyclopedia piece on feminist methodology in the social sciences and thinking about the connection between political regimes and their influence on scientific knowledge production.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
“Greatest accomplishment” sounds rather grandiose, but staying in the profession at all was quite an accomplishment for me. I left a tenure-track job for personal reasons and struggled as an adjunct for ten years after that. I ultimately found a full-time job at Riverside Community College and, at the same time, I started writing—this is more than ten years after I finished graduate school, by the way. I am lucky that I had a lot of encouragement and support from friends and colleagues who kept me in touch with what was happening in philosophy. This was aided by two stints at NEH-sponsored summer programs—a seminar with Larry Laudan in 1993 and a summer institute on science and values at the University of Pittsburgh with Peter Machamer and Sandra Mitchell in 2003—both of which led to publications and friendships and collaborations that are ongoing.
Which books have changed your life? In what ways?
Three books that have changed my philosophical life are Richard Rorty’s Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Helen Longino’s Science as Social Knowledge, and Sandra Harding’s The Science Question in Feminism. I read Rorty in my second to last year in graduate school when I was seriously considering dropping out. It revitalized my caring about philosophy and motivated me to finish, although it had nothing directly to do with my dissertation. It just offered a different way to think about philosophy than I had been exposed to in graduate school and reminded me of what philosophy had to do with the way I thought about the world. Longino’s and Harding’s books came along when I was again thinking of leaving the profession. Both of these were saying things that I thought were interesting and new (to me) but raised questions about how to think about objectivity that ended up being a running theme in my work. As an aside, I kept thinking that I was going to leave philosophy and do something else for years! Sometime in my forties it dawned on me that wasn’t going to happen, and only then did I start thinking of myself as a philosopher.
What do you like to do outside work?
The past ten years have been incredibly productive for me. I retired from teaching in 2015 and, since then, my days have been nicely divided between research, writing, and traveling. My travel usually includes hiking trips that are five to seven miles a day, lasting about two weeks. I mostly travel with a group of friends. My other non-work pastime is knitting. I live in Southern California, where my knitwear is not much use but, fortunately, I have family who live in colder climates.
What would you like your last meal to be?
Anything with lentils. I think lentils are the perfect food.
This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest, not only inside the office, but also outside of it. We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form.
Jessica Castellani
Jessica Castellani had a unique high school experience attending Toledo School for the Arts, where she played in a percussion ensemble and steel drum band for six years. She earned her dual Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and religious studies from the University of Toledo. Her primary focus was “the Self” and the mystical experience of losing it. She earned her Master of Arts in philosophy from The University of Toledo as well, with a specialization in comparative philosophy, Eastern studies, and continental philosophy. She has taught World Religions and Introduction to Philosophy at The University of Toledo both in person and virtually. She is a member of the Buddhist Temple of Toledo, tutors students, and has worked in the service industry for over a decade. In her free time, she likes to spend time outside and with her pets, friends, and family.
