Escaping the Natural Attitude About Gender
Philosophical Studies 178 (3):983-1003 (2021)
Abstract
Alex Byrne’s article, “Are Women Adult Human Females?”, asks a question that Byrne treats as nearly rhetorical. Byrne’s answer is, ‘clearly, yes’. Moreover, Byrne claims, 'woman' is a biological category that does not admit of any interpretation as (also) a social category. It is important to respond to Byrne’s argument, but mostly because it is paradigmatic of a wider phenomenon. The slogan “women are adult human females” is a political slogan championed by anti-trans activists, appearing on billboards, pamphlets, and anti-trans online forums. In this paper, I respond to Byrne’s argument, revealing significant problems with its background assumptions, content, and methodology.
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2020-04-20
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2020-04-20
Total views
6,374 ( #228 of 57,051 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1,249 ( #156 of 57,051 )
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