The strict interpretation of standpoint theory was dangerous. It veered too close to relativism. It seemed to write off any capacity for empathy or emotional imagination. It could not explain, for instance, why someone like John Stuart Mill would care about women and strive to liberate them. It provided no justification for why people of one background often stood in solidarity with those from another. But a more moderate interpretation of standpoint theory provided a corrective to liberalism’s historic failures. It would acknowledge that people brought their social context to politics while
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