Massimi, Michela (2026) Knots and Knitting: On the Dangers of Epistemically Severing and Trademarking Artisanal Knowledges from Science. [Preprint]

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Abstract

What kind of structural and systemic injustices have traditionally prevented women’s accessing scientific education? And how do these injustices intersect with epistemic injustices concerning women’s artisanal ways of knowing when it comes to handicrafts such as weaving, knitting, knotting? This paper has two main goals. First, it debunks the stereotypical gendered association of these artisanal ways of knowing and show their continuity with more formal theoretical ways of knowing. It does so through a historical case study that shows the seamless historical continuity between mathematical-physical knowledge and artisanal knowledge concerning weaving, knitting, and knotting in Victorian Britain at the same time that women were banned from accessing scientific education. The second goal is to shed light on a distinctively epistemic mechanism underpinning this systemic injustice in Victorian Britain. By expanding upon Massimi’s notions of epistemic severing and epistemic trademarking the paper explores how these two forms of epistemic injustices have historically affected scientific narratives by cutting off artisanal knowledges and their continuity with foundational research in mathematical physics.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Massimi, Michela michela.massimi@ed.ac.uk 0000-0001-6626-9174
Keywords:	artisanal knowledge, knot theory, knitting, Peter Guthrie Tait, James Clerk Maxwell, William Thomson, Alexander Crum Brown, epistemic severing, epistemic trademarking, systemic injustice
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science Education General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science
Depositing User:	Michela Massimi
Date Deposited:	22 Apr 2026 12:28
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2026 12:28
Item ID:	29274
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science Education General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science
Date:	21 April 2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29274

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