UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN FACULTY OF THEOLOGY
Philosophy of Gender Semester and Year: Fall 2018 Credits: 3 External Course: Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen Major Discipline: Philosophy Related Disciplines: Gender Studies, Ethics, Psychology
Location: Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, South Campus, Room 6B.0.22
Schedule: Mondays 15:00‐17:30
Faculty Bio: René Rosfort, PhD & MA (University of Copenhagen). Associate Professor (Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen). E‐mail: [email protected].
Description of Course
This course constructs a philosophical framework for the interdisciplinary examination of gender. Against a historical outline of the development of contemporary gender studies, we examine biological, sociological, and psychological perspectives on gender. These theoretical perspectives are put into discussion with ethical issues concerning sexuality, selfhood, personal identity, and autonomy.
Learning Objectives of the Course
By the end of this course, you will be able to make sense of the interdisciplinary examination of gender and discuss the historical, theoretical, and ethical aspects of what it means to exist with a gender identity. Our identity is rooted in our experience of gender. This experience is deeply personal, and yet there are biological and societal aspects to the experience of gender that complicate and challenge our sense of identity. The course will provide you with a philosophical foundation for thinking critically about the complexity of human experience of gender. The most important elements of this philosophical foundation are a sense of history, conceptual clarity, and an understanding of interdisciplinary methodology.
Approach to Teaching
The sessions are structured as a combination of lecture, discussion, and group work with a focus on engaging the student. Each session is framed by a systematic PowerPoint presentation of the themes and readings in question. The presentation will encourage and guide the discussion in the class. The student can expect a lively and systematically oriented teacher who will attempt to make the issues both interesting and relevant to a contemporary setting while maintaining a substantial theoretical level and the necessary historical perspective.
DRAFT SYLLABUS | 1
Expectations of the Students
I expect you to have done the required reading for each class and to think about issues, problems, and questions for me and for the other students. This will give us material to generate conversation. I encourage engaged participation in the discussions of the various themes of each session. I expect, however, that in the discussion you will make use of the theoretical tools and the historical background that you are expected to have learned as the course progresses.
Required Texts
Textbooks Susan Kingsley Kent. Gender and History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Tina Chanter. Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy. London: Continuum, 2006.
Articles and chapters in books Katherina Jenkins. “Amelioration and Inclusion: Gender Identity and the Concept of Woman”. Ethics 126 (2016): 394‐421 Sara Haslanger. Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012, ch. 1 (“On Being Objective and Being Obejctified”): 35‐82. Luce Irigary. An Ethics of Sexual Difference, trans. C. Burke and G.C. Gill. London: Continuum 2004, ch. 8 (“An Ethics of Sexual Difference”): 99‐110. Donna Haraway. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective”. Feminist Studies, 14: 575–600. Judith Butler. Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2015, ch. 1 (“Gender Politics and the Right to Appear”): 24‐65. Ian Hacking. “Making Up People”. In M. Heller et al (Eds.) Reconstructing Individualism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Talia Mae Bettcher. “Trans identities and first‐person authority”. In Laurie Shrage (ed.), You've changed: Sex Reassignment and Personal Identity, pp. 98‐120. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009. 98–120. Cressida Heyes. “Changing race, changing sex: The ethics of self‐transformation”. Journal of Social Philosophy 37: 266–282. Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir. “The Social Construction of Human Kinds”. Hypatia 28 (2013): 716‐732. Toril Moi. “I am not a Feminist”. PMLA 121 (2006): 1735‐41. Sally Haslanger and Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir. "Feminist Metaphysics". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
DRAFT SYLLABUS | 2
Charlotte Witt. The Metaphysics of Gender. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011, ch. 3: 27‐49. Sara Heinämaa. “A Phenomenology of Sexual Difference: Types, Styles and Persons”. In C. Witt (ed.) Feminist Metaphysics: Explorations in the Ontology of Sex, Gender and the Self, pp. 131‐155. Dordrecht: Springer 2011.
Evaluation
The course is both theoretical and practical in the sense that I aim at enhancing your argumentative skill by means of the theoretical tools and the historical insight that the course provides you with. To think about gender and challenges of personal identity means to engage in an ongoing contemporary discussion that affects major aspects of human existence – societal, personal, and political Therefore, much of the work in the class will be in the form of discussion. There will be three short written assignments (after sessions 3, 6, and 8), and one longer, final paper. The written assignments will deal with the historical and theoretical aspects of the course. I value independent thinking and personal engagement in both the written assignments and in the discussions in the class, but only if these aspects of your work rest on solid arguments built on the theoretical and historical foundation of the course. So independent thinking and personal engagement will be rewarded if they are kept in balance with the intellectual and academic standard of the course.
Grading
Engaged participation: 10% Final paper (10‐12 pages): 45% 3 short assignments (4‐5 pages): 45% (each of the short assignments counts for 15%)
To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all of the assigned work.
Attendance
Class attendance is required, including classes with guest lecturers. According to UCPH policy, all students must be present 75% of the time to receive a grade. (For DIS students: the DIS Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Student Affairs, must be notified if you are absent four times or more).
Plagiarism Policy
In accordance with UCPH rules for academic ethics, there will be a no tolerance policy towards cheating and plagiarism. The submission of any paper which is not your own work will result in an automatic F for the course and possible notification of your home university.
DRAFT SYLLABUS | 3