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A batch of the best highlights from what Jophin's read, .

The notion that one must know history in order to understand the present has a certain justification when applied to the history of events, but not for the structural history of a society. Rather, the opposite is the case: __to examine the constitution of a particular social and economic structure, one has to be already familiar with the completed structure. Only then will one know what to look for in history.__

An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx's Capital

Michael Heinrich

despite its focus on positionality and social location, standpoint theory does not argue for total relativity of viewpoints; every individual, socially located standpoint is equally strong for understanding reality. Rather, consistent with Marxist dialectical materialism, standpoint embraces the fact that we, as individuals, are expressions of social relations, and that, as such, we are tied historically, culturally, politically, and materially to institutions. Thus, __the point isn’t to say that “all standpoints are equal,” but instead that the position of the oppressed creates a stronger standpoint for better understanding the material reality of society.__

A Marxist Education

Wayne Au

Forbidden knowledge, therefore, is better understood as a social process involving ethical decisions about whether to produce or disseminate knowledge deemed sensitive, dangerous, or taboo. Understanding forbidden knowledge as a process enables scholars of ignorance to direct their attention towards asking how knowledge comes to be forbidden rather than to ponder which kinds of specific forms of knowledge are forbidden. Analyzing forbidden knowledge as a process also enables scholars to see forbidden knowledge as existing beyond the few formal regulations dictating the boundaries of what can be known—​and instead understand how forbidden knowledge is created via thousands of daily decisions made by policymakers, funders, ethicists, policymakers, scientists, and the public.

Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies; Second Edition

Matthias Gross, Linsey McGoey (eds)

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