論邦斯的性別形上學與性別詞理論

On Elizabeth Barnes’Metaphysics of Gender and Theory of Gender Terms

本文剖析邦斯於〈性別與性別詞〉一文中所提出的性別形上學與性別詞使用理論。邦斯認為，當代性別理論的謬誤在於將性別形上學跟性別詞的適用條件混為一談，他主張，後者屬於語言使用的範圍，可以（而且應該）從形上學的工作劃分出去。在形上學部分邦斯採取並修正了哈斯蘭格 (Sally Haslanger) 的社會位置論；在語言使用的部分，他強調形上學雖然不提供性別詞的適用條件，但仍會規範語言的使用。本文指出邦斯理論的可議之處，闡釋其性別詞分析的明顯缺失，並且質疑邦斯並未提出具足的論證，說明區分出形上學跟性別詞的使用，就必然更能達成改良型性別理論所追求的性別正義。

This paper introduces and critically evaluates the view Elizabeth Barnes (2020) proposes in “Gender and Gender Terms.” According to Barnes, contemporary gender theories mistakenly conflate the task of a metaphysics of gender with the task of figuring out the application con-ditions of gender terms. She contends that we can and should separate the two, as the former is to explain the social reality of gender, which need not give us the definitions or truth conditions for sentences involv-ing gender terms. Regarding the metaphysical component of her ac-count, Barnes adopts and ameliorates Haslanger’s social position the-ory; for the semantic and conceptual component, she emphasizes that though the metaphysics of gender does not provide the application con-ditions of gender terms, the former nevertheless constraints the use of the latter. We argue that Barnes’ semantic analysis is far from satisfying. Moreover, it is not clear that separating the metaphysics of gender and the analysis of gender terms leads to more effective attainment of the ameliorative goal of gender equality.