Flannel Jesus wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:49 pm
I find it very possible that someone with female neurology might want their penis to go. I find it plausible that being mentally female in some way might naturally produce a desire to be entirely female, in a way that transcends the cultural aspects of gender.
I am sure some people would want it. I just don't think it really makes sense in physicalism.
I get what you're saying about just sort of being your own gender/sex, but I don't think that's the only possible consequence from having female -like brains in a male body,
The brains are not binarily female in a male body. They might share some aspects with males, tendencies. But I'll bet no more than some butch lesbians who identify as female.
and I do think having a female like brain in a male body is at least a plausible explanation for trans-ness, and inherently more plausible than female souls being the only explanation.
I can't demonstrate that the souls are the case. But these are separate issues. We could both be wrong. I mentioned the idea of souls because I think it is a consistant position. Perhaps it's false. I can't demonstrate it. But when transperson says they were born in the wrong body, I consider that a possibility. It's not going against my metaphysics.
I think a physicalist has a problem however.
(And couldn't all your objections here about being this in between gender equally apply to the female soul position? What makes the female soul belief different from the female brain belief? Other than the fact that we have evidence of brains but no evidence of souls)
Oh, they might be wrong. But I do think it's possible. I think there is a difference between men and women.
If accepting trans-ness requires belief in souls, then the trans side of wokism essentially becomes a religious stance.
I don't know if it requires it. I was not arguing that believing in trans entails believing in souls. But it is one possibly explanation. And actually in context, I mainly meant, it causes me no problem when someone claims they have the wrong body. I do not rule that out categorically because of my ontology. I think physicalists have a problem with it however.
And I think this is at root a problem for a activist woke left. Because while they see Muslims, for example, as victims, at root they generally do not like religions - and I have sympathy for why, but that's another issue. They also tend to have problems with dualisms, spiritualities and anything that skeptics will call woo woo. The problem for them, I think, is that at least some trans people are in fact asserting something woo woo. Instead of wrestling with that the woke left just asserts different things, sometimes in different contexts, sometimes in the same context. Yet, somehow never facing the cognitive dissonance.
And when I am critical of the Left here this does not mean I am on the Right. I shouldn't have to say this, but I find that 1) the standard model is there are 2 choices adn 2) that if you disagree with anything on one model you are in the other category.