社會存有學探討關於社會世界的本質與特性，特別是關於社會物件的存有學地位。在這門課中，我們會聚焦在近年來關於「社會類別」所發展的社會存有學，特別是關於性別與種族的討論。有些哲學家會反對將這些社會類別看為自然中真實的分類，認為這種主張性別與種族的實在論會導致某種造成壓迫的本質主義。有些哲學家則是發展更細緻的理論，嘗試將性別與種族解釋為某種社會建構的產物，並主張這樣的理解是與社會正義相關的。在這門課中，我們會仔細研讀這些議題，探討我們應該在什麼意義上來理解社會建構的內涵，以及我們應該使用什麼樣的哲學工具來分析社會類別。

Social ontology investigates the nature and the properties of the social world, asking questions about the ontological status of social entities. In this course, we will focus on the recent development in social ontology about social categories, such as gender and race. Some philosophers deny that such social categories are real divisions in nature, thinking that realism about gender and race would lead to a form of essentialism that justifies oppression. Other philosophers develop more sophisticated accounts, trying to explain how gender and race are socially constructed in a sense relevant to social justice. In this course, we will be carefully studying these issues, investigating in what sense we can understand talks about social construction, and what philosophical tools we may use to analyze social categories.