Gender Identity

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Locke argued that everything the individual knows, believes, and entertains is made up of ideas of sensation and reflection and nothing else. This means that individuals are not born "homosexual" or "heterosexual," rather that this is learned behavior. The author points out that the ruling in Littleton vs. Prange contradicts Locke's theory because the court's ruling follows society's incorrect traditional view that one's sexual identity is biological rather than social. The paper relates that Locke held that the perception of ideas through the senses and retention of ideas in memory are passive powers of the mind, beyond our direct voluntary control and heavily dependent on the material conditions of the human body.

From the Paper:

"In "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding II", Locke defined the person in terms of function rather than by reference to its underlying nature, maintaining that the identity of a conscious person is independent of the identity of whatever substances happen to compose it at any time. This means that the person's identity is not a result of their "underlying nature," which is if they are genetically born "male" or "female." According to Locke, an appropriate account of personal identity must arise from careful analysis of the concept of the person. What he means by "concept" is comparable to what the person truly "feels" and what they have expereinced."

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