Disinterpellation and Essential Kinds

Disinterpellation emerges at the moment of diagnostic disclosure when a patient’s dualistic understanding of sex is intersected by scientific fact that sex is variant and this variance is inscribed onto his/her body disturbing the social coherence of the patient’s identity. This discordance is described as a tear in the fabric of knowledge where two forces, social ideals and scientific fact pull in opposite directions. To mend this tear, this book explores three different mechanisms: essentialism, naturalism and emergentism. This chapter critically examines the first of these, essentialism which involves identifying the necessary and sufficient conditions for dividing people into two sexed kinds. Though essentialism has been in decline since David Hume, this chapter explores the recent rise in essentialism resulting primarily from the work of two philosophers, Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam. The chapter continues by examining different forms of biological essentialism and concludes by evaluating whether any of these forms of essentialism can resolve disinterpellation.