The Magical-Sophistical Delusion: Third-Wave-Feminism and Its Philosophical Roots

The content of current third-wave feminism differs significantly from that of previous feminist movements, which sought equal human and civil rights for women. In third-wave feminism, gender is primarily understood as a social category that is linguistically constructed. The now classic work Gender Trouble (1990) by philosopher Judith Butler is decisive for this “linguistic turn” in the social sciences. However, Butler’s work is systematically based on two philosophical traditions that are already highly controversial in themselves: sophism and existentialism, linked to a pre-modern magical worldview. The following essay is a critique of these lines of tradition, followed by the question of the extent to which they can serve citizens of an enlightened society in naming and constructively addressing actual social grievances.

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