Gender Thinking

How can we accept the gender system in view of its ills? Yet, are we really at liberty to abolish gender differences, 'when the gender system gives us benchmarks of personal identity and worth along with primary channels in which to pursue the rewards of love?' With this double question, Steven G. Smith introduces his inquiry into the idea of gender and how it is implicated in love, respect, equality, and personal character. "Gender Thinking" is the first comprehensive philosophical exploration of the concept of gender. Asking the question, what is gender? - that is, what sort of thing do we take femininity and masculinity to be? - Smith considers how gender thinking is interwoven with ideas about human nature. He suggests ways in which ideas about race, class, culture age, temperament, and sexual orientation can be understood from clues found in gender thinking. And he calls for a renegotiated procreative partnership between women and men as the key to the redemption of gender. Author Steven G. Smith is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Millsaps College and author of "The Concept of the Spiritual: An Essay in First Philosophy" (Temple).