Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science (Paperback)

by Linda Shepherd (Author)
Key Phrases: feeling function, chaos science, Veiling the Feminine Face of Science, University of Washington, Kristina Katsaros (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Lifting the Veil quietly chastises science and scientists for relying too heavily on objectivity, logic, and competition, all typically associated with a masculine philosophy of science. Simultaneously, it beckons to science to cultivate traits such as cooperation, nurturing, receptivity, and intuition, usually considered more characteristic of the feminine. Drawing on basic tenets of Jungian psychology, biochemist Shepherd describes how science is successfully unveiling the feminine in newer areas like quantum physics and chaos science. She uses numerous examples from the experiences of men and women to illustrate this unveiling, concluding that science can only improve, and so help humanity to prosper, by uncovering its feminine side. Though Shepherd might reject labeling her book a feminist critique of science, it certainly reads like one. For academic science collections.
- Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Shepherd became a biochemist in the 70's, married a fellow graduate student she'd known since high school, pursued a career in biotechnology, and eventually divorced. Some seven years ago, she began a course of Jungian analysis that changed her life. From allegiance to the image of science as a male-dominated hierarchy based on rules of logic and a reductionist view of biology, she discovered Jung's principle of the Feminine--the necessary complement, Jung said, to the Masculine in each of us. The result is a book that aims to persuade the reader to cultivate the Feminine in science and in life, along with the other complements in Jung's theories of opposing pairs--e.g., feeling as opposed to thinking, and intuition as opposed to sensation. Successive chapters deal with qualities of the Feminine: feeling, nurturing, receptivity, cooperation, intuition--all aspects that speak to the interconnectedness and interdependence of things, their relatedness to the ``whole.'' How these play out in science is illustrated by way of anecdotes and conversations with contemporary female and male scientists, revealing how they think and relate to the objects of their study. Shepherd believes that, overall, a cultivation of the Feminine can undo the Baconian tradition of man ``conquering'' nature and can lead to greater moral and social responsibility that can pay off in terms of preservation of the planet. Her zeal extends to Gaia theory, holistic medicine, and some forms of ESP--convictions that may weaken her case. Much of what Shepherd says makes sense. Interestingly--and independently--forces within bioscience are moving toward more integrated approaches: old-fashioned physiology may rise again. A Jungian coincidence? -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 329 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (June 8, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877736561
• ISBN-13: 978-0877736561
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,952,838 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING INSIGHT INTO SCIENCE, September 1, 2000

By	Calvin C. Clawson (Issaquah, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book that details the difference between how men and women approach science. It demonstrates those charactoristics that women can uniquely bring to science. As a mathematician I was impressed with Dr. Shepherd's rigorous scholarship and enjoyed her interviews with living women scientists. I'm a father of a teenage girl who plans a career in science, and I appreciate the author's efforts to highlight the special ways that women contribute to the scientific effort.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary Scientific Book, August 31, 2000

By	Brian Herbert (Bainbridge Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science (Paperback)

Lifting the Veil shows the feminine perspective in science, instead of the normal male view. This is extremely illuminating, and makes the reader think of new things -- an alternate reality for many male viewers. There is an important message here: when we do not include the feminine perspective, we miss seeing part of reality. The author mixes philosophy, science, and feminism in a very readable way, filled with anecdotes and conversations with both women scientists and men who are not afraid of their feminine sides.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring guide to a healthier, more inclusive science, November 11, 2000

By	Gary Bornzin (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science (Paperback)

Although there are many excellent books and articles covering particular aspects of feminism and science, finding a comprehensive text is difficult. I was delighted to discover _Lifting the Veil_ a few years ago, and have been using it ever since as a text in a class I teach, "Feminist Perspectives in Science." It is written with great sensitivity, insight, clarity, and conviction. Shepherd advocates for greater gender balance in the ways science is conceived, practiced, and taught. Specifically she imagines a more inclusive science--inclusive not only of women and people of color, but also inclusive of certain qualities customarily associated with women and customarily undervalued in Western science. Each chapter features one of these qualities: feeling, receptivity, multiplicity, nurturing, cooperation, intuition, relatedness, and social responsibility. Her writing style is engaging and enjoyable to read. Endnotes, bibliography, and commentary within her text are exceptionally illuminating guides to the literature, and inspire and facilitate further reading. Especially important to me as a teacher is that my students like the book, and read it--even the most skeptical males.

Shepherd exposes male bias in science not in an accusatory way but simply by proposing a positive and appealing alternative-- "more creative, more productive, more relevant, and more humane"--noticing how a more "feminine," inclusive science is emerging already in a thousand different ways, and unveiling the places where it has all along been present but unseen. Her book seems to take into account, as if by design, most of the complaints about science voiced by my students. They find in this book a new face of science to which they can relate.