Heidi Grasswick
Office
Twilight Hall 312
Tel
(802) 443-5662
Email
grasswic@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
S24: Mon 2-3:30 (in person option AXT 312) Thur via zoom 4-5 pm

Heidi Grasswick earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota. Originally from the west coast of Canada, she also holds a B.A. from University of Victoria (Honors in Philosophy) and an M.A. (Philosophy) from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her teaching interests include feminist philosophy, environmental philosophy, theory of knowledge and issues of science and society. She also regularly contributes to the Women’s and Gender Studies curriculum at Middlebury through both cross-listed philosophy courses and senior seminars.

Professor Grasswick’s primary research areas are feminist epistemology, and social epistemology—examining the social aspects of knowledge production. Much of her writing concerns our responsibilities for knowledge-seeking and their connections with moral responsibilities. She has recently completed the volume Making the Case: Feminist and Critical Race Philosophers Engaging Case Studies, co-edited with Nancy McHugh. Her current research focuses on issues of trust between scientific (or expert) communities and lay communities, and responsibilities for the sharing of knowledge.

For more information on Professor Grasswick’s teaching and research please visit her webpage.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Senior Independent Study
In this course, seniors complete an independent research or creative project on a topic pertinent to the relationship between humans and the environment. During the term prior to enrolling in ENVS 0700, a student must discuss and agree upon a project topic with a faculty advisor who is appointed in or affiliated with the Environmental Studies Program and submit a brief project proposal to the Director of Environmental Studies for Approval. The expectations and any associated final products will be defined in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students may enroll in ENVS 0700 as a one-term independent study OR up to twice as part of a multi-term project, including as a lead-up to ENVS 0701 (ES Senior Thesis) or ENVS 0703 (ES Senior Integrated Thesis). (Senior standing; Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

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Course Description

Senior Thesis
This course is the culminating term of a multi-term independent project, resulting in a senior thesis on a topic pertinent to the relationship between humans and the environment. Approval to enroll is contingent on successful completion of at least one term (and up to two) of ENVS 0700 and the approval of the student’s thesis committee. The project, carried out under the supervision of a faculty advisor who is appointed in or affiliated with the Environmental Studies Program, will result in a substantial piece of scholarly work that will be presented to other ENVS faculty and students in a public forum and defended before the thesis committee. (Senior standing; ENVS major; ENVS 0112, ENVS 0211, ENVS 0215, GEOG 0120, and ENVS 0700; Approval only)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Science and Democracy: Philosophical Perspectives
The scientific method has been heralded as inherently democratic, based as it is on observation rather than authority. Yet the relationship between science and democracy is much more complex: what happens to our own relationship to democracy when we find ourselves needing to rely on expert scientific knowledge to make informed decisions? In this course we will explore the work of philosophers and science studies scholars to help us understand the many challenges of integrating science and democracy. We will consider what might be required for scientific and technological research to be objective, trustworthy, just, and able to serve the needs of a diverse society well, and we will examine challenges such as the commercialization and politicization of science. Topics such as climate change, health policy, medical research, AI, and food safety will help frame our considerations of the appropriate role of science in developing sound public policy.

Terms Taught

Fall 2023

Requirements

CW, PHL

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Course Description

Philosophy and Feminism
This course will examine the contributions of various feminists and feminist philosophers to some of the central problems of philosophical methodology, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics. Are there gendered assumptions in operation in the way particular philosophical problems are framed? For example, do the politics of gender contribute to accounts of objective knowledge and rationality? Are some philosophical perspectives better suited to the goals of feminism than others? We will also examine the general relationship between feminism and philosophy, and we will reflect on the relevance of theorizing and philosophizing for feminist political practice.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021

Requirements

CMP, PHL

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Course Description

Introduction to Modern Logic
Logic is concerned with good reasoning; as such, it stands at the core of the liberal arts. In this course we will develop our reasoning skills by identifying and analyzing arguments found in philosophical, legal, and other texts, and also by formulating our own arguments. We will use the formal techniques of modern propositional and predicate logic to codify and test various reasoning strategies and specific arguments. No prior knowledge of logic, formal mathematics, or computer science is presupposed in this course, which does not count towards the PHL distribution requirement but instead towards the deductive reasoning requirement. 3 hrs. lect./1 hr. disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

Requirements

DED

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Course Description

Science and Society
Science is not developed in a vacuum. Social circumstances influence the practice of science and in turn, science shapes how we organize ourselves as a society. We will investigate both directions of this relationship, asking such questions as: how do the values of society drive scientific research? What does it mean for science to be understood as objective? And how can socially and politically influenced scientific work be trusted? Drawing on the work of philosophers of science and interdisciplinary science studies scholars we will investigate what makes science such a powerful method of understanding the world, and how social and political pressures play a role in shaping and applying that understanding. We will also investigate the challenges of developing public trust in science by focusing on examples of socially significant scientific research such as climate science and research related to the Covid pandemic. 3 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Winter 2023

Requirements

PHL, SOC

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Course Description

Philosophy and Feminism
This course will examine the contributions of various feminists and feminist philosophers to some of the central problems of philosophical methodology, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics. Are there gendered assumptions in operation in the way particular philosophical problems are framed? For example, do the politics of gender contribute to accounts of objective knowledge and rationality? Are some philosophical perspectives better suited to the goals of feminism than others? We will also examine the general relationship between feminism and philosophy, and we will reflect on the relevance of theorizing and philosophizing for feminist political practice.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021

Requirements

CMP, PHL

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Course Description

Philosophy and the Environment
In this course, we will examine several environmental issues from a philosophical perspective. We will be interested in what arguments can be provided to support particular views, but more important, we will try to identify the deep philosophical issues that underlie particular debates. For example, what is the basis for our determinations of value? We will also examine the challenges that large scale environmental issues present for particular philosophical theories. For example, how well can particular ethical theories handle certain environmental problems? Topics may include animal rights, wilderness preservation, biodiversity, attitudes toward nature, over-population, and economic arguments for the protection of the environment. (Previous course in philosophy or waiver) 3 hrs.lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020

Requirements

PHL

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Course Description

Responsible Knowing: Issues of Trust, Expertise, and Agency
In this course we will explore a variety of contemporary philosophical accounts of testimony, expertise, and epistemic trust as articulated by the approaches of social and virtue epistemology. We will investigate how philosophers have incorporated this work into an assessment of what it means to know well—that is, what is it to be a responsible knower in a world where much of our knowledge is acquired through others? What additional challenges do we face with online sources of information? We will also assess accounts of how social power and oppression manifest themselves in our positionalities and thus our pathways to knowledge. Open to junior and senior philosophy majors/minors or by permission.

Terms Taught

Spring 2024

Requirements

PHL

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Course Description

Feminist Epistemologies
In recent years, feminist epistemologies, such as feminist standpoint theories and feminist empiricisms, have been extremely influential in developing social theories of knowledge. They have also served as a crucial intellectual tool for feminist theorists trying to understand the connections between social relations of gender and the production of knowledge and ignorance. In this course we will investigate some of the major themes and challenges of feminist epistemologies and feminist philosophies of science: How is knowledge socially situated? What does it mean to look at knowledge through a gendered lens? How is objective knowledge possible according to feminist epistemologies? We will work to understand the influence of feminist epistemologies in contemporary philosophy. We will also consider how feminist epistemologies have guided research on gendered and raced relations. (Approval required; Open to philosophy and GSFS senior and junior majors. GSFS majors must have previously taken GSFS 0320, or permission.) 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

CMP, PHL

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Course Description

Research in Philosophy
Supervised independent research in philosophy. (Approval required).

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025

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Course Description

Senior Independent Research
In this course senior philosophy majors will complete an independent research project. The course has two components: (1) a group workshop in which students refine their research skills and develop parts of their projects, and (2) individual meetings with an adviser who is knowledgeable about the student's research topic. Students will engage in research activities such as tutorials and peer reviews. Before the course begins, students’ research topics and advisers will be decided in consultation with members of the department. (Senior majors.) 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2022

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Publications

Making the Case: Feminist and Critical Race Theorists Engaging Case Studies. Co-edited with Nancy McHugh. Forthcoming SUNY Press.

“Reconciling Epistemic Trust and Responsibility” In Trust in Epistemology, ed. Katherine Dormandy. Routledge 2020.

“Epistemic Autonomy in a Social World of Knowing.” Routledge Handbook of Virtue Epistemology. Ed. Heather Battaly. Routledge, 2019, pp. 196-208.

“Understanding Epistemic Trust Injustices and their Harms.”  Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements. V 84, 2018.

“Feminist Responsibilism, Situationism, and the Complexities of the Virtue of Trustworthiness” Epistemic Situationism. Ed. Abrol Fairweather and Mark Alfano, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 216-234. 

“Epistemic Injustice in Science.”  Routledge Handbook on Epistemic Justice. Ed. Ian Kidd, José Medina and Gaile Pohlhaus Jr. Routledge Press, 2017, pp. 313-323.

 “Trust, and Testimony in Feminist Epistemology.” Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy. Ed. Ann Garry, Serene J. Khader, and Alison Stone, Routledge Press, 2017, pp. 256-267.

 Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge. Editor Heidi Grasswick. Dordrecht: Springer, 2011 http://www.springer.com/philosophy/book/978-1-4020-6834-8

“Climate Change Science and Responsible Trust: A Situated Approach” Hypatia. 29(3) 2014.