Cuerpo y sexualidad según Juan Pablo II en relación con la fenomenología de la corporeidad de Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

The body has not always been a prevalent issue in theological reflection. Throughout human history philosophers and other thinkers have remained silent, almost reverentially silent, on the human reality of sexuality. Why do we exist as a body, a body that rebels against the spirit? Must we reject either the body or reject the spirit? What happens if we consider the body to be the genuine core of our reflection, as the ¿location¿ (place) chosen by God to fully reveal Himself to man? How would this perspective shape our understanding of the person, of the world, of God? How do we explain this silence? We could attribute it to the prevailing Platonic influence upon some areas of the theological tradition. But it was in fact with the arrival of Cartesian dualism that the body was removed from theological discourse. A mechanistic view of the world created the ideal conditions for such an oversight. We therefore believe that our thesis may pave the way to a different and renewed vision of the body. With the help of Merleau-Ponty¿s phenomenology, the theological anthropology of John Paul II and Biblical revelation, we have tried to develop a richer view of human corporeality and sexuality which allows them to be understood as bearers of the imago Dei. In order to respond to these questions raised by Modernity, Maurice Merleau-Ponty provides us with his phenomenological analysis of reality. All of reality is made up of notes or constitutive properties. These properties are not juxtaposed, but form a structure, a system. Man is not a duality of complete substances¿ body and mind ¿in the Cartesian sense, nor a mixture of ¿thing¿ and ¿idea¿, but is rather an ¿embodied conscience¿, a way of being-in-the-world. The French philosopher observes how the body itself is the realisation, actualisation or expression of human existence. Human existence is impossible without the body, and the body, in turn, receives its meaning from this existence. John Paul II talks of situating the human body-sexuality at the pinnacle of divine creation. This would endow the body with its ¿unified totality¿ and its dignity, although it does raise a number of questions. The sexualised body was chosen by God to manifest this divine mystery and thereby offer salvation to man. In this thesis we link this new perception of body and sexuality with the development of new philosophical and theological studies, especially those arising from Fhenomenology and Personalism, which favour a greater awareness of the subjective component of human relations and the actual value of the person. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part we analyse Merleau-Ponty¿s thoughts on the phenomenological body; the body located at the central axis around which all gnoseological processes turn, to the extent that it becomes the authentic Merleau-Pontian transcendental. In the second part we analyse the thinking of K. Wojtyla divided into seven ¿moments¿ or works from his intellectual trajectory. In the third and last part, we forge a link between K. Wojtyla and M. Merleau-Ponty based on three categories that are essential to moral Theology: conscience, moral action and freedom. Key words Corporeality, sexuality, desire, intercorporeality, language, phenomenology, intentionality, experience, subjectivity, transcendence, marriage, image of God, conscience, moral acts, freedom, Karol Wojtyla and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.