In this article, I explore the question "What is trans philosophy?" by viewing trans philosophy as a contribution to the field of trans studies. This requires positioning the question vis a vis Judith Butler's notion of philosophy's Other (that is, the philosophical work done outside of the boundaries of professional philosophy), as trans studies has largely grown from this Other. It also requires taking seriously Susan Stryker's distinction between the mere study of trans phenomena and trans studies as the coming to academic voice of trans people. Finally, it requires thinking about the types of questions that emerge when philosophy is placed within a multidisciplinary context: (1) What does philosophy have to offer? (2) Given that philosophy typically does not use data, what grounds philosophical claims about the world? (3) What is the relation between philosophy and "the literature"? In attempting to answer these questions, I examine the notion of philosophical perplexity and the relation of philosophy to "the everyday." Rather than guiding us to perplexity, I argue, trans philosophy attempts to illuminate trans experiences in an everyday that is confusing and hostile. Alternative socialities are required, I argue, in order to make trans philosophy possible.
I can only speak for myself. But what I write and how I write is done in order to save my own life-Barbara ChristianIn an important sense trans philosophy didn't exist at all, perhaps as recently as five years ago. 1 Back then, I would have described my own research as situated at the intersections of disciplinary feminist philosophy and the inter-and multidisciplinary field of trans studies. The expression "trans philosophy" wasn't quite available, or at least, it didn't say very much. Perhaps that seems remarkable now.For so long there had been so few trans folk working on trans issues in the profession: There was the pioneering work of C. Jacob Hale, Miqqi Gilbert, and Jamie Nelson Lindemann in the 1990s. Loren Canon, C. Riley Snorton, and I were writing in the mid-to-late-2000s. But trans philosophers were few and far between. Admittedly, an anthology on trans issues and personal identity as well as a special Hypatia issue on feminist philosophy and trans made their appearances as early as 2009 (Shrage