Gender and the Brain

Kind Essentialism (based on neuroscience)

• Kind Essentialism (based on neuroscience) says: to be male is essentially to be an individual with a male brain; to be female is essentially to be an individual with a female brain.

• Is this plausible? Are there male and female brains?

 Patricia Churchland

• She is a philosopher and neuroscientist

• Churchland argues that male and female brains do differ

• An XY fetus (chromosomally male) develops testes in the second month; testes produce testosterone and other hormones. Testosterone and the other hormones "masculinize" the brain

• An XX fetus (chromosomally female) develops the "default" brain that isn't masculinized by testosterone

• Below, data on testosterone levels throughout life (from this article). 

The top graph shows males from conception through puberty.
The bottom graphs show rats, mice, and humans in the hours after after birth
(top line male, bottom line female).

• What difference does a "masculinized" brain make? It depends on the species.

• In birds, only males sing and engage in courting displays. Females choose among the males.

• In elephant seals, only the males fight each other. Females choose among the males.
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• In humans, XY individuals (with male brains) are more aggressive on average

• Suppose all this is true. Then is Kind Essentialism true? (To be male is essentially to be an individual with a male brain; to be female is essentially to be an individual with a female brain.)

• Two ways for individuals to differ

• Sexual dimorphism. All the males take one form, all the females take another (e.g. male and female deer).

• Different averages.  Like in the case of human heights. 

• If brains of men and women just differ like height, then we can't define being female as having a certain kind of brain.  

• Is Churchland talking about sexual dimorphism or different averages? (p. 125-136)

Cordelia Fine 

• She is a psychologist and journalist who also writes about philosophy

• Fine doubts that testosterone shapes the human brain/mind significantly.

• Evidence from rats and birds is inconclusive for humans

• Humans have higher cognition and culture

• Need to detect behavioral differences in babies before people start treating boys and girls differently.

A Famous Study

• Gender differences on Day 1, according to Jennifer Connelan (2000 study).



Newborns could look up at face or mobile.








More males had mobile preference, more females had face preference



• Fine's objection (in chapter of book we didn't read): Connelan knew which were boys and which were girls

• Fine's view: science hasn't proven that testosterone creates different male and female brains (even on average)

Practice RR 8.30

Here's a nice RR (4/4)!

• She uses quotation very nicely and effectively.  The instructions originally said one quoted sentence per page, but let's make it one per answer, at the very most. Sometimes finding the perfect quote is actually a valuable exercise and this student has found the perfect quote to use for each answer.
• Answer 2 is certainly "responsive" (which is all that's required), but Churchland also discusses how male brains make males more aggressive on average.

***

1)    What is the essence of the biological kinds male and female according to Dawkins?

Dawkins claims that the essence of male and female lies in the size and number of sex cells. The sex cells of males are “much smaller and more numerous than the gametes of the female” (Dawkins 141). This difference exists in all forms of life and serves as a good indicator of male or female. 

In organisms that do not have distinguishable sexes (isogamy), all organisms have the same type of gametes. Since the gametes do not differ and there is no difference of sexes, isogametes further prove that the difference in gametes is the essence of male and female. 

2)    How are male and female brains different from each other, according to Churchland?

Churchland describes how sex hormones interact with the brain according to gender. A surge of testosterone “masculinizes the brain by altering the number of neurons in very specific areas that mainly concern reproductive behavior” (Churchland 132). In contrast, the absence of a testosterone surge feminizes the brain.

Male brains and female brains also differ in the size of hypothalamic regions that regulate sexual behavior and the release of dopamine which affect the female menstrual cycle. Females also have a stronger connection between the hypothalamus and amygdala which makes them more cautious than males.

3)    What is Fine’s attitude toward the idea that higher in utero testosterone creates a distinctive male brain?

Fine disapproves of the hypothesis that higher testosterone creates a male brain. He claims this portrayal “is just new advertising copy for the old stereotype of females as submissive, emotional, oversensitive gossips…[and] are designed for feminine skills rather than…masculine pursuits” (Fine 100).

In terms of rat research that shows how male rats that are castrated at birth are similar to female rats, he describes how we cannot readily assume that what is true of rats and birds is also true for humans because all mammals are different.

Scientific research also does not have definitive proof that the differences in brain structures translates to differences in behavior. The hypothesis is not easy to test and thus should not be readily accepted.

Two Forms of Essentialism

1. RR assignments (you can access through syllabus)
2. Charlotte Witt, The Metaphysics of Gender (annotated)
3. Book link
4. Aristotle
5. Syllabus
6. Practice RR (sample)

Practice RR 8.28 (sample)

Grade: 4 (out of 4)

Comments:  

• This RR is very good. It certainly shows the student did the reading carefully! 
• The answer to (2)  provides more info than necessary, but obviously there's no penalty for that! 
• When the student gives his thoughts about kind essentialism and individual essentialism, he covers objections that are discussed by Witt.  It would be better if he added his own thinking a bit more. (This doesn't affect the grade.)

1)      What is the view that Witt characterizes as “kind essentialism”? What are your thoughts about whether it is true?
 “Kind essentialism” is a view holding that individuals are constituents of a kind (or group) when they share a unique property. More specific theories of kind essentialism require that these essential and unique properties have causal or explanatory power, as compared to nominal essences. Such views often appeal to physical, biological characteristics. This argument fails to account for different cultural perceptions of male and female across locations and time periods. 

2)      What is the view that Witt characterizes as “individual essentialism”? What are your thoughts about whether it is true?
 Contrary to kind essentialism, “individual essentialism” does not seek to define a group by a certain characteristic; rather, it seeks to define individuals by the properties and characteristics that are necessary to the individual’s identity. However, there are two different theories of individual essentialism. “Uniessentialism” is a view arguing that an individual is defined by its functional properties; for example, a house is a house because the building has the functional property of sheltering people, animals, etc. “Identity Essentialism”, on the other hand, refers to the composition of the specific individual in question. In essence, all properties, and characteristics that materially compose the individual are required for the individual to have its same identity. Individual essentialism may inerrantly equate the essential natures of objects with the essential natures of subjects and selves; essentially, this view ignores the possibility that there is something unique about an individual’s having agency and autonomy. Self-determining subjects and causally-determined objects should be thought of as differing classes. 

3)      What is the essence of the kinds male and female according to Aristotle in the Politics, books V and XIII?
 Aristotle argues that the relationship between man and woman is similar to the relationship between ruler and subject and freeman and slave. Men have higher levels of rationality, temperance, courage, and justice. It is not the case that women do not have rationality, temperance, courage and justice; it is simply the case that they have lower degrees of it. Additionally, the souls of men and women are naturally rulers and subjects, respectively. Women are naturally obedient, so they cannot rule.

Introduction to the Metaphysics and Ethics of Gender

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