Was Foucault a philosopher?

[Melchior]

Then ALL words are linguistic terms. Every word in a sense refers to other words.

No, that is false. Stop saying it!


Fouc-who?

A 'linguistics term' is a word that refers to aspects of language, not to things (parts of speech, syntax, number (singular/plural), tense, mood, etc.).

The word 'Der Mann' (the man) is masculine and refers to a man. 'Masculine' refers to the gender of the word. The word has a gender (masculine), the man has a sex (male).

'Gender' is a property of words only. 'Sex' is a property of organisms only!

Words are masculine, feminine, neuter (that is their 'gender'). Organisms are male, female, or both (their 'sex'). Words that refers to properties of words and languages are linguistic terms. 'Dog', 'man', house', 'sex', etc. are not linguistic terms! 'Number', 'tense', 'mood', 'gender' are linguistic terms.

[raw_thought]

If "gender" is a linguistic term then "feminine " and "masculine " are. If "gender" is a linguistic term then "dog" is a linguistic term because it is a word that describes a word (my dog's name). All adjectives and adverbs are linguistic terms because they are words that refer to words.

[Melchior]

If "gender" is a linguistic term then "feminine " and "masculine " are. If "gender" is a linguistic term then "dog" is a linguistic term because it is a word that describes a word (my dog's name). All adjectives and adverbs are linguistic terms because they are words that refer to words.

No, all of this is wrong.

'Masculine' and 'feminine' are both linguistic and non-linguistic terms. A man who is especially strong and muscular is called 'masculine', but even the scrawniest man is still 'male' even if he is not very masculine. 'Male' and 'female' do not admit of quantification or degree (you cannot be more or less 'male'). As mentioned above, 'masculine' and 'feminine' are also linguistics terms as they refer to properties of nouns, and in that sense they too do not admit of degree. The word Haus (house) is neuter, and not more or less neuter than Mädchen (girl).

People cannot be singular or plural, or have tenses. Only words can. Same with 'gender'. 'Gender' does not apply to people or animals. It is only a linguistic term.