Transgender, Catholic philosophy, and the human person

I recently submitted the following essay to my university. Feedback from my assessor are in italics and brackets:

The philosophical anthropology of the human person as a psychosomatic unity cannot be reconciled with the transgender position on the human person

Sydney-based blogger and University of Notre Dame Master of Liberal Arts student Dana Pham, has described her pre-gender transition teenage life as follows:

“Fights with my parents became more frequent, and I was throwing tantrums in the classroom and getting into fights with other boys, constantly losing control of my temper. My gender dysphoria worsened during high school. The more I lived as a boy, the more my dysphoria ate my mind and time. I wasn’t immediately fond of my changing body, but it made my body dysphoria slightly more bearable. It was my social dysphoria that kept getting worse. I wanted to dress as a girl, change my name, and have the world see me as a girl.”[1]

Gender transition refers to the process of someone shifting toward a gender identity not aligned to their assigned sex at birth, by means of social transition and/or medical/bodily transition, and gender dysphoria refers to the discomfort/distress related to such non-alignment between a person’s gender identity and the gender/sex assigned at birth.[2] On the face of it, Pham has the transgender psychological condition of gender dysphoria. In philosophical terms, her gender dysphoria appears to be a form of substance dualism.

Substance dualism distinguishes between the material body (res extensa) and the immaterial soul (res cogitans), and therefore asserts that it is only the soul that is the foundation of a person’s identity.[3] Under these conditions, the body and soul are fundamentally disconnected, and therefore a soul with a particular gender identity could be in the body birthed incongruently with said identity. This transgender position could be considered consistent with the Christian view of the human person, given that John Calvin, who was heavily influenced by both Plato and Augustine of Hippo, posited that the immortal soul lies hidden in man separate from body.[4] It is worth noting that Rene Descartes held that God created the soul, that Plato’s dualism is the exception rather than the rule, and Descartes was more or less supportive of the psychosomatic unity doctrine.[5]

(There are a lot of notions in here which need unravelling and distinguishing: Yes, dualism would support that you are who you are regardless of body. But then you leap to the Calvinist view then Augustine and Plato but pass over some really important differences between them (then jump to psychosomatic unity which is different again). Dualism would posit that bodily sex is not essential part of identity; that soul is neither male nor female. Descartes would deny the body-soul interaction which is so central to psychosomatic unity)

However, in II Corinthians 5:1–5, Paul the Apostles makes clear that the human person’s endstate is a totally renewed (no, ensouled) body for resurrection, not a disembodied soul. Perhaps it felt natural for Calvin to articulate the body as separate to the soul, in order to differentiate the human person who is still alive in the presence of God whilst their body is decomposing.[6] But even the Hebrews, as per the Old Testament, thought of the human person as a psychosomatic entity, and this was before Plato took a dualistic view of the human person.[7]

Further, Thomas Aquinas argued that both body and soul are a union, because “it is one and the same man who is conscious both that he understands and that he senses. But one cannot sense without a body: therefore, the body must be some part of man”.[8] Therefore, the rational soul drives the human person to be living with their body, and with will and intellect — without a body, the soul is not a human person, and without the soul, the body is not a human person. This is the basis of Catholic anthropology.

Man has a nature that he must honour and that he cannot manipulate at will.[9] That is, the human person is by nature religious because he came from God, and can only live a fully human life if he freely lives by his covenant with God.[10] He is capable of this since he has self-knowledge, self-possession and can be self-giving when entering into communal relationship with other human persons, which is why he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator[11]. He is called for such vocation because God created everything for the human person, who in turn was created to serve and love God by offering all creation back to Him in the image of God via stewardship[12]. This nature of the human person is what must be respected, and attempts to manipulate this at will are indeed, attempts to disrespectfully prevent the reciprocation of creation.

Further, such required respect for the dignity of the human person forms the basis of the natural law that govern our communion with other human persons.[13] Indeed, “God created man in his own image… male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27) because of the human person’s life-giving capability, and therefore the communion between man and woman brings them into intimate union with God.[14] Man and woman equally complement each other, rather than supplement each other unequally, which therefore can lead to forming “one flesh” that transmits human life to their descendants, thereby offering God all creation back to Him in His image.[15]

Therefore, acting upon transgender desires that prevent the reciprocation of creation as described above is an attempt by the human person to choose for himself what his nature is to be, since it prevents him from complementing with a woman to offer God all creation back to Him in His image.[16] Acting upon such desires disestablishes the natural family as a vocational reality of creation, which in turn, disrespects the dignity of the child in the family.

The Catholic view of the human person is that he does not act upon his transgender desires. Rather, he should learn to accept his body that was created in the image of God.[17] Specifically, to care for the body and respect its fullest creationist meaning, that is, recognising one’s body as their self in (potential) communion with someone who is complementary as the other self in order to offer God all creation back to Him in His image.

Therefore, it is understandable as to why Catholicism may not view gender dysphoria as different and separate to homosexuality — one challenges the existence of psychosomatic unity, and the other challenges raison d’etre for such unity in the human person. (Expression — it’s a bit unclear what you mean here) Raison d’etre is secondary to existence, hence gender dysphoria challenges the understanding of psychosomatic unity moreso than homosexuality. On this basis, the philosophical view of the human person as a psychosomatic unity cannot be reconciled with the transgender position on the human person.

It is not surprising that the questioning of something as fundamental as the psychosomatic unity doctrine faces close scrutiny by the Catholic Church. And as such, it behoves the Church to not forget the historical and science-driven example of this, being Copernicus’ and Galileo’s discovery that the Earth is not the centre of the universe.[18] Conventional Scripture interpretation can be limiting, since Galileo’s telescope did more to interpret Psalm 96:10 than theological analysis.[19]

To this end, it is worth noting that brain structure research on gender dysphoria thus far suggests that transgender people may be neurologically born as the gender they identify with, regardless of their sex assigned at birth.[20] Could this ongoing neuropsychological discovery do more to interpret the transgender phenomenon than the conventional psychosomatic unity doctrine? The philosophy most aligned with this discovery would be emergent dualism, which a version of substance dualism that posits that the soul naturally emerges from and is dependent on the brain, which of course is part of the body.[21]

(Is there more here re the science that gender dysphoria is biological/genetic? How does it challenge the psychosomatic unity view of human beings? The PS union theory is informed by an Aristotelian-Thomistic view that sex is not essential to a human person qua person, although it is a necessary accident. Philosophically speaking, sex doesn’t enter into the definition of human essence. While a necessary accident, sex doesn’t give extra information, so to speak, on the essence of humans.)

Based on emergentism, when neuro-system parts are rearranged correctly, this brings a new soul into existence. This new existence is integrative with the body, and is therefore not reducible to the parts of the neuro-system it came from.[22] However, if this process occurs at least once, for example during the pregnancy of a child who will exhibit gender dysphoria during their lifetime[23], then that gives rise to more than one soul deriving from the same brain, which is unfathomable. Indeed, the brain cannot be metaphysically unified, only the soul can, since intellect, will and emotion are inseparable from the soul.[24]

In simple, the mind and brain only interact with each other, the mind is the faculty of the soul, the brain is an inseparable part of the body, and the soul relates to the body as specified.[25] Ultimately, neuropsychology is no more a refutation of the reality of God’ creation, than is technology a demonstration that mathematical theory is redundant and superseded.[26]

Overall, Pham’s gender dysphoria is a non-existent problem from a Catholic point of view. But it is not clear whether such a point of view provides a solution to Pham’s perceived problem, that is, denying the existence of an incongruence problem does not mean the problem does not actually exists. The Congregation for Catholic Education’s release of Male and Female He Created Them is therefore unsurprising. The document does not mention gender dysphoria, and defines transgenderism as the concept of gender being the subjective mindset of the human person, who can choose a gender not corresponding to his or her biological sex, and therefore others’ perception of said person.[27]

As such, Male and Female He Created Them focuses on the ideology of ‘gender theory’, separate to gender dysphoria, which aims to deconstruct the male and female categories to give rise to gender ‘fluidity’.[28] (The qualification you make here seems to go against what you’ve said before — it isn’t clear how you are using ‘gender’) Whilst this may be a valid concern, those who experience gender dysphoria, like Pham, generally do not describe their experience as gender fluid. Most transgender people are in favour of a gendered society, not a genderless society, and are more concerned about congruence between their body and perceived soul. (Not sure what you mean here?) Consequently, transgender people generally do not aim to participate in a culture war, rather, they end up being casualties of the culture war.[29] (Not sure how this follows from what you’ve said before)

Perhaps the next best solution from a Catholic point of view is that rather than transition genders, Pham could have attempted to will her emotional soul to intellectually accept her birthed body instead[30], but it is not clear how such a course of action could be successfully implemented. Even if successful, is not the attempt to conform the dysphoric soul to the body, a dualistic attempt to prioritise the body over soul? (is it a dysphoric soul though? That’s a big metaphysical claim but metaphysics is concerned with universals/principles)

Given that what we understand about the human person impacts what we understand about what makes a good life, how transgender people can effectively manage their gender dysphoria without transitioning is an ongoing mystery. What is less mysterious is that from a Catholic point of view, care for those afflicted by gender dysphoria cannot be found in substance dualism. Rather, such care is derived from the ethos of bestowed love, and from Jesus Christ’s love and consideration towards the most vulnerable as per the Gospel.[31] (This is very true. And friendship with Christ is the ultimate source of self)

(Dana there are some good points in your essay which has a clear and concise writing style and draws from many different resources. You have clearly done a lot of reading and thinking about this issue. There are, however, quite a few inconsistencies in your argument as a whole. Take a look at my comments in the paper, but a main point here:

- you seem to be saying more often than not that both sex and gender are fluid as well as essential, i.e. you argue that sex is just ‘assigned’ at birth (so, seemingly contingent, fluid as ‘assigned’ seems to suggest) but also that it defines who one is (so, seemingly, essential).

This is really the main issue at stake in your paper. Given the your line of argumentation here it seems that the only accounts of the human person that would support your position would be existentialist or social constructivist ones.)

Bibliography

American Psychological Association. “A glossary: Defining transgender terms” apa.org, September 2018. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/09/ce-corner-glossary.

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911–1925.

Benedict XVI. “The Listening Heart: Reflections on the foundations of Law” abc.net.au, Berlin 2011, 22 September. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-listening-heart-reflections-on-the-foundations-of-law/10101114.

Benedict XVI. Address to the Roman Curia. Vatican City: Vatican Press, 2012.

Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1997.

Congregation for Catholic Education (for Educational Institutions). “Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education”. Vatican City: Vatican Press, 2019). http://www.educatio.va/content/dam/cec/Documenti/19_0997_INGLESE.pdf.

Francis. Laudato si’. Vatican City: Vatican Press, 2015.

Gooren, Louis. “The biology of human psychosexual differentiation.” Hormones and Behavior 50, no. 4 (2006): 589–601.

Guillamon A., Junque, C. & Gómez-Gil, E. “A Review of the Status of Brain Structure Research in Transsexualism.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45, no. 7 (2016): 1615–1648.

Hasker, William. “The Dialect of Soul and Body.” Contemporary Dualism: A Defense edited by Lavazza A., & Robinson, H. New York City, NY: Routledge, 2014.

Hasker, William. “Why Emergence?” Ashgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology edited by Farris, J. & Taliaferro, C. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015.

Jeeves, Malcolm. “Changing Portraits of Human Nature.” Science & Christian Beliefs 14, no. 1 (2002): 23.

Kidner, Derek. Genesis: Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Leicester, East Midlands: Intervarsity Press, 1967.

Mason, Rex. ‘Life before and after death in the Old Testament’ in Colwell, J. (ed) Called to One Hope. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: Paternoster Press, 2000.

Moreland, JP. “In Defense of a Thomistic-like Dualism.” The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, edited by Loose, J., Menuge, A. & Moreland, JP. Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.

Pham, Dana. “Growing Up Transgender and Vietnamese in Australia” medium.com, April 7, 2019. https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/growing-up-transgender-and-vietnamese-in-australia-3eb4b63285b8.

Rickabaugh, Brandon. “Against Emergent Dualism.” The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism edited by Loose, J., Menuge, A. & Moreland, JP. Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.

Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information. “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Dualism” plato.stanford.edu, 2020, 11 September. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#SubDua.

Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information. “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Medieval Theories of the Emotions” plato.stanford.edu, 2018, 23 May. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-emotions/#EarlMediDisc.

Wright NT. ‘New Heavens, New Earth’ in Colwell, J. (ed) Called to One Hope. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: Paternoster Press, 2000.

Yarhouse, Mark. Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015.

Footnotes

[1] Dana Pham, Growing Up Transgender and Vietnamese in Australia, 7 April 2019, https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/growing-up-transgender-and-vietnamese-in-australia-3eb4b63285b8.

[2] American Psychological Association, A glossary: Defining transgender terms, September 2018, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/09/ce-corner-glossary.

[3] Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Dualism, 11 September 2020, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#SubDua.

[4] Malcolm Jeeves, “Changing Portraits of Human Nature,” Science & Christian Beliefs 14, no. 1 (2002): 23.

[5] Brandon Rickabaugh, “Against Emergent Dualism,” The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, edited by Johnathan Loose, Angus Menuge and JP Moreland (Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2018), 5.1.3.

[6] NT Wright, ‘New Heavens, New Earth’ in Colwell, J. (ed) Called to One Hope (Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: Paternoster Press, 2000), 31–51.

[7] Rex Mason, ‘Life before and after death in the Old Testament’ in Colwell, J. (ed) op cit, 67–82.

[8] St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 1485, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1076.htm, I:76:1.

[9] Benedict XVI, The Listening Heart: Reflections on the foundations of Law, Berlin, 22 September 2011, https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-listening-heart-reflections-on-the-foundations-of-law/10101114.

[10] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1997), 44, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm.

[11] Ibid, 357.

[12] Ibid, 358.

[13] Francis, Encyclical Letter on Care for Our Common Home Laudato Si’, 24 May 2015, 154–155, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

[14] Congregation for Catholic Education (for Educational Institutions), “Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education, (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 2019), 31, http://www.educatio.va/content/dam/cec/Documenti/19_0997_INGLESE.pdf.

[15] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 372.

[16] Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, 21 December 2012, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2012/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20121221_auguri-curia.html.

[17] Laudato Si’, 155.

[18] Jeeves, “Changing Portraits of Human Nature,” 23.

[19] Derek Kidner, Genesis: Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Leicester, East Midlands: Intervarsity Press, 1967), 31.

[20] Antonio Guillamon, Carme Junque and Esther Gómez-Gil, “A Review of the Status of Brain Structure Research in Transsexualism,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45, no. 7 (2016): 1615–1648.

[21] William Hasker, “Why Emergence?” Ashgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology, edited by Joshua Farris and Charles Taliaferro (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015), 152.

[22] William Hasker, “The Dialect of Soul and Body,” Contemporary Dualism: A Defense, edited by Andrea Lavazza and Howard Robinson (New York City, NY: Routledge, 2014), 215–16.

[23] Louis Gooren, “The biology of human psychosexual differentiation,” Hormones and Behavior 50, no. 4 (2006): 589–601.

[24] Rickabaugh, “Against Emergent Dualism,” 5.2.4.

[25] JP Moreland, “In Defense of a Thomistic-like Dualism,” The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, edited by Johnathan Loose, Angus Menuge and JP Moreland (Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2018), 7.3.1.

[26] Jeeves, “Changing Portraits of Human Nature,” 6.

[27] “Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education, 11.

[28] Ibid, 19.

[29] Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture (Downers Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015), 42.

[30] Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Medieval Theories of the Emotions, 23 May 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-emotions/#EarlMediDisc.

[31] Jeeves, “Changing Portraits of Human Nature,” 27.