Transgender, Catholic philosophy, the human person, and the good life
I recently submitted the following essay to my university. Feedback from my assessor are in italics and brackets:
The Catholic Thought on the human person is correct, but it is not the solution for how to live a good and happy life with the transgender position
(This, in itself, is an intriguing proposition. I am curious as to how you’re going to reconcile the two conjectures.)
On gender theory, Pope Francis reaffirmed that “biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated”.[1] This is contrary to the increasingly mainstream view that transitioning genders is the process where someone shifts toward a gender identity not aligned to sex assigned at birth, whether socially and/or medically, and that gender dysphoria is the discomfort or distress related to such non-alignment between gender identity and assigned sex at birth.[2] What Catholics understand about the human person ultimately impacts what they understand about the good life, which is why this essay will start with examining the competing views on the human person of transgender experience.
Philosophically, the increasingly mainstream (important to verify this in an academic paper with research citations) transgender position appears to be a form of Cartesian dualism. Such dualism distinguishes between res extensa and res cogitans, that is, the soul is foundational to a human person’s identity, since the immaterial soul is separate to the material body.[3] Therefore, the soul is fundamentally disconnected from the body to the point that the soul’s apparent gender identity is in a body that is not congruent with said identity. But in Catholic Thought this is not true, going as far back as the Old Testament, where the Hebrews perceived the human person as a unity of body and soul.[4]
Paul the Apostle explained that the human person’s soul is not disembodied, that is, their body is ultimately ensouled for resurrection (2 Cor 5:1–5). Then finally, St Thomas Aquinas posited that the human person is a psychosomatic entity, since they are “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”, because the human person is a unitary constitution that cannot be separated into components, such as body and soul.[5] In this sense, the soul drives the body to live — the soul is the substantial form of the living body.[6]
This Catholic anthropological account therefore behoves the human person to respect their nature, and to not try to change it.[7] Because he or she is religious in nature due to being a tripartite creation of God, he or she can only fully flourish as a human person by choosing to live by His covenant.[8] Such a choice leads to freedom because the soul is driven by a will and intellect that can drive the body to enter into communion with others, as intended by God’s grace, and the covenant which the grace is based on.[9] “God created man in his own image… male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27), therefore the communion between man and woman brings them into union with God, because such intimacy is capable of giving life to another human person.[10]
Since God is Creator of everything the human person knows, including imago dei, he or she is therefore voluntarily called to reciprocate such love by furthering the stewardship of His Creation.[11] Man and woman equally complement each other in a way that can lead to forming “one flesh” that births a human person in the image and likeness of God, thereby furthering a stewardship cause that would not be possible under Cartesian dualism.[12] Embracing this respects the dignity of the human person, and doing otherwise is an attempt to undermine God’s Creation.
Therefore in Catholic Thought, acting upon certain transgender desires, and/or encouraging others to act upon such desires, arguably undermines God’s Creation and Plan as described above. If the body and soul are one and not disconnected, the human person cannot choose to be male or female as an entity; they are just either born male or female, and this nature cannot be changed.[13] In other words, if a man attempts to be a woman holistically, this act would at best, discourage him, at worse, prevent him, from complementing with a woman in a manner that furthers stewardship over God’s Creation. Acting in such a way does not lead to a natural family, and if there is already a natural family in place, such actions disrespect the dignity of all members of the family.
Rather than acting upon their transgender desires, the human person should will their emotional soul to intellectually accept their imago dei body, care for it, and use it to further stewardship over God’s creation — they should see their body as their whole self in potential communion with a complementary other instead.[14] In other words, and from an Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective, such desires should not be acted upon because sex is a necessary and inseparable accident (for reasons stated above), not an essence of the human person qua person.[15]
To demonstrate the infallibility (does not the following sentence suggest you are arguing for the “fallibility” of the Catholic view?) of the Catholic view of the human person who is transgender, more recent and related challenges to the Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective include emerging brain structure research on gender dysphoria, which suggests that those diagnosed with gender dysphoria may be neurologically born as the gender they identify with, contrary to their birth sex.[16] Assuming this leads to a new neuroscientific consensus on gender dysphoria, it would lend support to the emergent dualist philosophy, a Cartesian dualism where the soul emerges naturally from and is dependent on neuro-parts of the body.[17]
Under emergent dualism, when parts of the brain are rearranged in a particular way, this brings a new soul into existence that is integrative with the whole body.[18] However, if during the pregnancy of a child, this process occurs to give rise to gender dysphoria in the child[19], then that would give rise to multiple souls which cannot be metaphysically unified to become one soul in the same body, since intellect, will and emotion collectively connect to one soul of each human person at a time.[20]
(I’m not sure how this would be the case. This would suggest that the soul is manipulated by the material. Moreover, what does it mean to bring a “new soul” into existence? How would we know this were to be the case?)
In her blog in 2019, Master of Liberal Arts student Dana Pham, from the University of Notre Dame, described part of her childhood experience with gender dysphoria as follows:
“Despite my pleas for help, I was under 18 and my parents disapproved of my wish to transition. Counselling and psychotherapy were offered instead, which felt like dancing around the solution. My life prior to transition was incredibly miserable. I was under a lot of pressure to make counselling and psychotherapy work, which only exacerbated my dysphoria and made my sense of worth nosedive. This felt like unbridled psychological abuse; it disrupted my friendships, studies, and social development, not to mention my relationship with my parents.”[21]
The infallibility of the Catholic view of the human person who is transgender is cold comfort for people like Pham, and so is the advice that she should just learn to accept and protect her (male) body for communion and stewardship purposes, in order to live a good life.
There is no direct Magisterial teaching on a considered moral theological response to gender dysphoria that could be used to help Pham understand how to live a good life.[22] The closest substitute is the Congregation for Catholic Education’s Male and Female He Created Them. This document does not reference gender dysphoria as a medical condition, but does conceptually define transgenderism as the subjective approach where the human person can choose a gender not corresponding to their biological sex, and therefore others’ perception of his or her gender.[23]
The seemingly Catholic position on transgenderism does not fully encapsulate Pham’s lived experience and those like hers. Unsurprisingly, Male and Female He Created Them only focuses on gender theory and (non-binary) gender ‘fluidity’, which does not exactly relate to Pham and those with experiences similar to her.[24] Noting that transgender people tend to not want to participate in the (gender theory) culture war, but they tend to end up being casualties of the culture war anyway, the approach thus far by the Catholic Church is not helping those with gender dysphoria understand how to successfully live a good life.[25]
(I hope through your blog you might give insights as to how the Church can best minister to transgender individuals. I know I would appreciate this pastorally.)
Pope Francis has previously acknowledged that the question of how the Catholic Church responds to Catholics of a transgender disposition poses a complex human problem in need of resolution, as demonstrated by this essay. He has insisted that reaching such resolution should be “always with the mercy of God, within the truth.”[26] The truth is that the Catholic Thought on the human person with transgender disposition is correct, but it is not merciful to use such Thought as a solution in itself for how people with gender dysphoria can live a good and happy life.
The Pope has reiterated that the Church must not abandon such people. Indeed, such much needed care is derived from the ethos of bestowed love, and from Jesus Christ’s love and consideration towards the most vulnerable.[27] Specifically, the Pope has said that it is “one thing for a person to have this tendency, this option, and even change sex. But it is another thing to teach it, gender theory, in schools along these lines in order to change mentality. I call this ideological colonisation”.[28] The time has come for the Church to look beyond gender theory, and promulgate direct Magisterial teaching on a considered moral theological response to gender dysphoria.
(68/100 I wanted to award this essay a distinction grade. It was well-written, reflective, and an engaging read. The principal reason why I could not was, although you have cited your sources correctly in the footnotes, there were a number of instances where you did no use speech marks to indicate direct quotes. Please watch out for this in future. That aside, I thought your articulation of the Church’s position was clear and theologically-philosophically informed.)
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): 27.
Jones, David Albert. “Truth in transition? Gender identity and Catholic anthropology.” New Blackfriars: A Review 99, no. 1084 (2018): 756–774.
Klima, Gyula. “MAN=BODY+SOUL: Aquinas’s Arithmetic of Human Nature” fordham.edu. https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/bodysoul.htm.
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.
Newton, William. “Why Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Gender Is Fundamentally Correct: A Response to John Finley.” The Linacre Quarterly 87, no. 2 (2020): 198–205.
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.
Tobin, Bernadette. “Gender and Personal Identity: Two Views” abc.net.au, 2017, 5 September 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/gender-and-personal-identity-two-views/10095420.
Yarhouse, Mark. Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015.
Footnotes
[1] Bernadette Tobin, Gender and Personal Identity: Two Views, 5 September 2017, https://www.abc.net.au/religion/gender-and-personal-identity-two-views/10095420.
[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] Rex Mason, ‘Life before and after death in the Old Testament’ in Colwell, J. (ed) op cit, 67–82.
[5] St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 1485, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1076.htm, I:76:1.
[6] Gyula Klima, MAN=BODY+SOUL: Aquinas’s Arithmetic of Human Nature, https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/bodysoul.htm.
[7] 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.
[8] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1997), 44, 367, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm.
[9] Ibid, 357.
[10] 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.
[11] Ibid, 358.
[12] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 372.
[13] 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.
[14] Francis, Encyclical Letter on Care for Our Common Home Laudato Si’, 24 May 2015, 155, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.
[15] William Newton, “Why Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Gender Is Fundamentally Correct: A Response to John Finley,” The Linacre Quarterly 87, no. 2 (2020): 198–205.
[16] 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.
[17] William Hasker, “Why Emergence?” Ashgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology, edited by Joshua Farris and Charles Taliaferro (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015), 152.
[18] 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.
[19] Louis Gooren, “The biology of human psychosexual differentiation,” Hormones and Behavior 50, no. 4 (2006): 589–601.
[20] 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), 5.2.4.
[21] 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.
[22] David Albert Jones, “Truth in transition? Gender identity and Catholic anthropology,” New Blackfriars: A Review 99, no. 1084 (2018): 756–774.
[23] “Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education, 11.
[24] Ibid, 19.
[25] Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture (Downers Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015), 42.
[26] Tobin, “Gender and Personal Identity.”
[27] Malcolm Jeeves, “Changing Portraits of Human Nature,” Science & Christian Beliefs 14, no. 1 (2002): 27.
[28] Tobin, “Gender and Personal Identity.”