Philosophy of Race and Gender

4.0 credits

Prerequisite - at least one prior course in Philosophy In this course, we will explore several main questions: What are race and gender? What do we want race and gender to be? How might our treatment of applied issues in race- and gender-related areas change if we reimagined the concepts? When we look at the world around us, it seems clear that race and gender are real categories – after all, some people are obviously disadvantaged by their race or gender, and other people are obviously advantaged. But just how should we think about these categories? Are they biological realities? Are they “mere” social realities? Or are we mistaken, and do they not meaningfully exist at all? In this course, we will explore the roles that these concepts play in the real world and how these concepts could be reimagined as effective tools for changing our world for the better.