The Metaphysics of Gender

This Element explores debates about nature of gender and the meaning of 'woman', and how to make progress.

The metaphysics of gender is a growing area of interest in metaphysics, examining the existence and nature of gender categories like man, woman, or agender person. This Element provides a survey of recent discussions on the topic, highlighting the growing interest in this area and the methods used to pursue metaphysical inquiries.What is the metaphysics of gender about? Metaphysics is the study of what there is and what it is like. On this conception, questions in the metaphysics of gender would be about the existence and nature of gender. That is, the metaphysics of gender would be about whether alleged gender categories such as being a man, a woman or an agender person are real features or kinds, and if so, what their nature is. In recent years, the metaphysics of gender has received a lot of attention and has shifted from being a rather marginal part of metaphysics to being a growing area of interest. Moreover, growing attention to the metaphysics of gender and the social domain have given rise to fruitful methodological questions about what metaphysics is about and what are the best methods to pursue metaphysical inquiries. This Element offers a survey of recent discussions of these questions.