Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts

Major

Philosophy

Date of Defense

4-15-2024

Graduate Advisor

Eric Wiland

Committee

Eric Wiland

Jill Delston

Lauren Olin

Abstract

This essay provides a metaphysical and epistemological account of gender. The metaphysics involves a ‘non-reductionist view of gender’, which is to say that gender cannot be reduced to a single factor. On this view gender begins with one’s innate gender inclinations (in the vein of Julia Serano). These inclinations pick out a specific range of gender possibilities from the gender spectrum that apply to a person. At the same time we live in communities and cultures with certain gender norms. This is where epistemology comes into play since our gender inclinations are filtered through gender norms and some people are able to fit in more easily with gender norms than others. It is especially difficult for trans people to navigate gender norms because they experience ‘gender alienation’ or a disconnect from the aspects of the self that constitute one’s gender. This alienation comes from the discrepancy they experience between their felt sense of gender and the gender other people expect them to be. How do they overcome such an epistemic discrepancy? They overcome it, in part, through the influence of alternative feedback. The alternative feedback comes in the form of information from, and about, trans people. This feedback can be direct testimony. It can introduce a concept to someone, thereby ameliorating a hermeneutical injustice. It can normalize, and destigmatize, certain experiences. Miranda Fricker’s work is incorporated in this analysis but the primary focus is on Elizabeth Anderson’s and Trystan Goetz’s work because their descriptions of hermeneutical injustice better fit the contemporary trans experience.

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