PHIL 310 — The Philosophy of Sex and Gender
This course is an introduction to issues in philosophy relating to sex and gender, including questions about what it means to identify and be identified as male or female, and how gender structures social and personal realities. The course reviews different kinds of feminist critiques of Western philosophy and their counter-arguments, as well as philosophical analyses of sex and gender as they relate to ethics, social philosophy, theories of human nature, and theories of knowledge. The course gradually works toward positive theories of sex and gender, including biological determinism and post-modern approaches to the body, and explores contested norms of gender equality in contemporary issues. No philosophy background is assumed.