Review of Metaphysics and Gender: The Normative Art of Nature and Its Human Imitations

Schumacher, Michele M. Metaphysics and Gender: The Normative Art of Nature and Its Human Imitations. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2023, pp.193, $29.95, hardback.

With succinctness and clarity, Schumacher provides a history of the transgender/gender ideology movement, masterfully traces the influence of the existential philosophers, and offers sharp critiques to arm seminarians and Christian students with theological and philosophical arguments for the normativity of nature (“God’s art”).

In Metaphysics and Gender, Michele M.Schumacher confronts contemporary gender theorists who are proposing a complete inversion of a classical, nature-based metaphysical understanding of reality – where the things that populate the world have real natures or essences that (1) define what a thing is, (2) grounds its normative functions, and (3) directs its natural desires or inclinations toward specified and perfecting ends – with a radically non-normative picture of reality, absent of any notion of natures or “nature-based inclinations towards nature-specified ends” (p. 4). Schumacher argues that this “inversion… by gender theorists based upon the Sartrian presumption that there is no human nature” (p. 4) is responsible for the radical departure of a biblical understanding of human persons as created male and female, in the image of God. As Schumacher notes, “Human nature… really is normative… For those of the Judeo-Christian tradition, this was understood to be the case because nature was said to reveal the Creator’s mind and thus also his intentions for the creatures whom he has made” (pp. 50-51). In other words, there is a normativity to God’s creation or “art” (nature), which is currently being rejected and replaced with the human “art” (manipulation of nature). Schumacher’s work is thus a plea to return to God’s “art” and nature-based normativity, rather than attempting to reorganize society to a new set of norms founded on a human reconceptualization, or manipulation, of human sexuality. 

            Schumacher begins her work by detailing the important practical consequences of rejecting God’s intention for human sexuality, specifically that of “the rapidly growing trend of sex ‘reassignment’ surgery… whose long-term effects are highly problematic, as testified by patients, doctors, and researchers” (p. 8). Once the practical stakes are on the table, Schumacher, in chapter two, identifies the theoretical underpinnings of gender ideology as exposited by Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler. Beauvoir’s popular claim that “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman” introduced the idea that gender is socially constructed, and Butler’s argument that gender is “radially independent from sex” severed the connection between sex and gender (pp. 30-31). In chapter three, Schumacher directs the readers back to a traditional, normative understanding of nature as one marked by teleological ends befitting God’s intentions behind His creation. Chapter four highlights the notion of human freedom. The current cultural understanding of freedom, influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre’s “self-made man,” is marked by the absence of constraints and (natural) limitations, rather than the classical view of freedom for the good. However, Schumacher argues this view of freedom—the “freedom” to form one’s own identity by pursing self-desired ends—will inevitably come into conflict with the way things are (reality) and thus beckons a return to an Aristotelian-Thomistic view of freedom as the capacity to choose what is good by acting in accordance with one’s true nature. In the fifth chapter, Schumacher makes the distinction between biology and morphology, that is, she makes the distinction between natural male and female sexual organs which possess fitting causal powers, specifying their co-generative power for procreation, in contrast to mere imitations or manipulations of the sexual organs by surgical intervention, which lack the causal powers of the real organs they attempt to imitate. The sixth chapter notes how the inversion of God’s art (nature) with human art (manipulation) has led to the needed policing of knowledge, truth, and language by gender theorist. She notes how discourse and language are being detached from reality as “gendered” terms are systemically being overturned through “the ‘queering’ of natural norms, the unbinding of law, the rewriting of public policies, the overturning of social structures, the breaking down of traditions, and the reversing of cultural trends” (p. 145). What we are currently witnessing in the West is the consequences of this inversion. Lastly, Schumacher concludes the work with a call to return to the classical metaphysical tradition of a nature-based understanding of sex rather than deferring to man-made gender ideology.

In Metaphysics and Gender, Michele M.Schumacher confronts contemporary gender theorists who are proposing a complete inversion of a classical, nature-based metaphysical understanding of reality – where the things that populate the world have real natures or essences that (1) define what a thing is, (2) grounds its normative functions, and (3) directs its natural desires or inclinations toward specified and perfecting ends – with a radically non-normative picture of reality, absent of any notion of natures or “nature-based inclinations towards nature-specified ends” (p. 4).

Schumacher’s chief motivation for her work is to defend the doctrine of creation and the normativity of natural limitations – and for that, this work is to be commended! She identifies the refusal to view nature as created as being at the heart of the matter pertaining to gender ideology and the transgender movement. She then details, through the works of Beauvoir and Butler, how we have arrived at our current cultural understanding of gender as something dependent on our internal desires, completely severed from biological sex, as a means to promote freedom of human sexual expression. As Schumacher notes, it is the cultural consensus that one is now free to determine their own gender identity apart from biological or sociocultural factors, and free to alter their bodily sex through hormonal or surgical intervention to match their gender identity. A strength of her work is her interaction with the existentialist perspectives as it offers readers a brief account of the historical unfolding of our cultural moment. Ideas do not arise in a vacuum, and Schumacher argues the genesis of gender ideology stems from a contemporary, existential understanding of freedom grounded in personal desire. Furthermore, her presentation and plea for a return to the classical, Aristotelian-Thomistic view of freedom offers an elucidating corrective.

Another strength of Schumacher’s work is how she brings to light the Sartrian existentialism that has shaped the cultural norms and values of the Western world. Rather than living in accordance with nature, attempts are being made to force nature into the human mold. However, in the end, nature always prevails. Human bodies and human sexuality cannot be reduced to the morphological. Reproductive powers are grounded in nature-directed, nature-inclined, normative biological realities and, thus, though one may “trans” the human body by way of morphological changes (i.e., sex-change operations), this does not give rise to functioning biological faculties or reproductive powers. As Schumacher argues, the sad results of surgical intervention are the shaping of mere sterile, non-functioning imitations. Schumacher carefully brings to light the reality of the current cultural moment in the West and offers a strong case against the concept of the “self-made man.”

            However, readers should be forewarned that those unfamiliar with the literature on gender/gender ideology, existential philosophy, or Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics may be left unconvinced or confused. Though the brevity of the work and each chapter may be a virtue for some, given the complexity of the issues at hand, some may be left wanting. Fitted with the appropriate background knowledge, one may be able to easily track Schumacher’s arguments; however, it is not difficult to imagine readers being lost with her quick transition from quote to quote, point to point. Furthermore, even seasoned philosophers often confess the difficulty in making sense of an Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysic, and the failure to grasp a nature-based metaphysic may lead to more confusion than clarity.

            Additionally, though her use of the analogy of art and nature gets across a point that may have been recognized historically, it may be outdated for today. Schumacher relies on Aristotle’s maxim of “art imitates nature” to ground her analogy; however, with the development and change of art forms, such as photography or abstractionism, perhaps, it is not always the case that art imitates nature.

            All things considered, Metaphysics and Gender is a welcomed addition in the literature on the metaphysics of gender from a philosophically robust Christian perspective, following other excellent texts such as Sexual Identity: The Harmony of Philosophy, Science, and Revelation edited by John D. Finley (2022) and The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale (2022). With succinctness and clarity, Schumacher provides a history of the transgender/gender ideology movement, masterfully traces the influence of the existential philosophers, and offers sharp critiques to arm seminarians and Christian students with theological and philosophical arguments for the normativity of nature (“God’s art”). Again, though this work may be challenging for students who have no prior knowledge in 20^th century existential philosophy or Aristotelian–Thomistic metaphysics, with supplementary texts, Schumacher’s text would be an ideal introduction for students beginning their study on the metaphysics of gender.