Analyzing Sandra Harding’s Standpoint Epistemology through the Lens of Islamic Epistemology on Knowledge

Abstract

Sandra Harding’s standpoint epistemology has emerged as a significant critique of modern scientific claims to neutrality and objectivity. However, this framework also raises fundamental philosophical concerns, particularly regarding truth relativism and the fragmentation of epistemic authority. The urgency of this research lies in offering an alternative epistemological framework that not only exposes the inherent biases of Western science but also provides an integral and transcendent foundation for knowledge. Islamic epistemology, grounded in the principle of tawhid (divine unity), offers a holistic conceptual framework that harmonizes rational, empirical, and revelatory dimensions as sources of truth. Nevertheless, studies that directly critique standpoint epistemology from an Islamic perspective remain rare. This research aims to examine Sandra Harding’s standpoint epistemology critically and to formulate a tawhid-based Islamic epistemology as a conceptual alternative to relativistic epistemic frameworks. Employing a qualitative method based on library research and a descriptive-analytical approach, this study further strengthens its conceptual foundation through in-depth interviews with two experts in philosophy of science and Islamic philosophy. The findings suggest that while standpoint theory effectively exposes power relations in knowledge production, it lacks the metaphysical grounding necessary to sustain a coherent concept of truth. In contrast, al-Attas’s tawhid-based epistemology provides a spiritually rooted and ontologically unified framework. This study contributes to contemporary Islamic epistemological discourse by proposing an ethically oriented and theologically grounded model of knowledge that integrates lived experience with divine revelation, offering a richer, more coherent, and genuinely objective understanding of reality.