The gender puzzles. (23rd April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fileva, Iskra
• Is Part Of: European journal of philosophy. Volume 29:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 182
• Page End: 198
• Publication Date: 2020-04-23
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy, European -- Periodicals; Philosophy, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals; 190
• DOI: 10.1111/ejop.12550
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-8373

Abstract

Abstract: What is gender and how do we know what our gender is? These are the questions I propose to answer here. I review and reject several hypotheses: gender as sex or—a more careful version of the view—as subjective experiences that arise from sexual characteristics; gender as brain configuration; and gender as a historical kind. I express sympathy with an existentialist conception of gender but argue that such a conception, even according to its proponents, cannot help solve the problems of what gender is and how we know what our gender is. I then advance a new view.