The Problem of Standpoint in Phenomenology

The aim of this book is to argue for a standpoint approach to phenomenology grounded in the idea that social oppression and marginalization can, in some cases, result in privileged insight. However, the aim of phenomenology is to uncover what is shared and essential to our being—what conditions support in general and for all human beings the kind of being that we share. The classical phenomenological methodologies reflect this focus on the “universal” by systematically eliminating specificity as a means of identifying what is common to all. In this chapter, I present the methodological “problem” of introducing standpoint to the phenomenological project. I also present an example from the work of the critical phenomenologists, Alia Al-Saji, whose insights are drawn from the specificity of her experience—they occur because of and not in spite of their social specificity. Yet her work also uncovers something that structures experience more generally. I start with this example to show that such an approach must somehow be possible. The rest of the book will be an exploration of how this is possible and why it is a crucial contribution to the phenomenological project.