Philosophizing the Body: Physical, Social, Psychosomatic and Spiritual Dimensions
Contents: Part I: Phenomenological and Existential Perspectives. 1. Modernity and exile of the body/Nishant Alphonse Irudayadason. 2. Liberating the body : mythonomologic resources/Keith D'Souza. 3. Humans as bodily: a phenomenological probe/Johnson J. Puthenpurackal. 4. Body, desire and insatiability/Felix Fernandes. 5. Body, gaze, shame and counter-gaze/Victor Ferro. 6. Body and consciousness: from somatic correlates to causes/Gregory Mathew Malayil. Part II: Social, Political and Gender Issues. 7. Body, bio-politics and bioethics/S. Sekar Sebastin. 8. Stereotyped bodies: A Christian critique of the impact of race, caste, and colour in contemporary Indian Society/James D. Chellappa. 9. Humans for sale: objectification, commodification and reification of human beings/Ashley Miranda. 10. A medieval perspective on the body: St. Thomas Aquinas and the male-female difference/Dolreich Pereira. 11. In search of woman: re-making ourselves/Gayatri Mendanha. 12. Body, gender and sexuality in family/A. Pushparajan. Part III: Approaches of Science and Technology. 13. Is the body merely bodily?: reflections on the human body as a symbol in bio and medical sciences/S. Stephen Jayard. 14. Redesigning the human body in science and technology/Noel D'Costa. 15. Body in the media: organs without body/Francis Arackal. Part III: Spiritual Dimensions. 16. The body of the earthings in `Laudato Si': a philosophical appreciation/Kuruvilla Pandikattu. 17. Fasting and feasting : differing philosophies of the body/George Karuvelil. 18. Body, suffering, death and afterlife/John Peter Vallabadoss. 19. The Buddhist concept of the body/Kurian Alumkal. 20. The Body in Saiva Siddhanta/Andrew Anbarasu. 21. A meditative reflection on the human body: body as media of dialogue and communication/James Purathail.
A contradiction about the body runs through our culture. On the one hand it is highly valued; the ambient materialism attests to it. But, on the other hand, it is relativized as regards its ontological status, anthropological significance and ethical implications. The substantive challenge is to articulate what mind and body means. The human being is the articulation of these two realities. Two dangers now lurk in all walks of life including our everyday discourse: mind without body and body without mind.
As Christian philosophers of India, we need to address this substantive challenge. This collection of essays presents in a single volume various approaches and perspectives towards philosophizing the body, each perspective valid in its own terms but not exhaustive or categorical. These multiple complementing and at times conflicting perspectives and approaches only point out to the richness of the philosophical discussion that this topic calls for. No attempt is made to homogenize in order to offer a single philosophy, but instead possible ways of philosophizing the body from different perspectives are explored. This open-ended approach is inevitable in our contemporary times where we learn to celebrate difference and embrace heterogeneity. This work reflects novel insights into philosophizing the body and it will hopefully be a valuable resource for any further research on this theme.
