PHIL 123 — Queer Philosophy
is a course in metaphysics and epistemology with an emphasis on the self-identifying ontologies and knowledge claims of members of the LGBTQIA+. One prime goal in this course is to philosophically examine inherited and normalized gender stereotypes against those of the LGBTQIA+ community, exemplified in the work of Judith Butler, for example. Other affiliated and questionable assumptions include sexual orientation and gender identity. Such examinations lead us to questions of justice, especially epistemic injustice. As the knowledge claims of the Queer Community are delegitimized by common institutional beliefs of the purported essence of human sexuality, we react in this course by investigating what constitutes legitimate knowledge about essences, especially as concerns gender. Finally, a key concern in this course is the conception of personhood, as it relates to trans identities. (CSU)