30
The idea of instrumentality portrayed above, despite the emotionally charged and compelling
images evoked above, lacks a firm and lasting understanding of human nature. The popular
understanding of gender envisions the human body as an instrument of the mind, through which the
human person encounters the world. For the purposes of this
thesis, instrumentalism is defined as the subordination of the
physical body and any importance it may contain for the human
person to the mental image of oneself – thus, how a person feels
about themselves matters more than the actual, physical condition
of their body. This belief – whether intentional or unintentional,
explicitly held or implicitly held – denies the significance of human
nature as embodied. The problem here is that the human body
really and truly constitutes the “most intimate entry point into the
world” 108 for human persons. If we forfeit this anchor – our physical bodies and their inherent,
functional meaning – then we forfeit any and all meaningful, objective significance for our life in this
world. As a consequence, the human person becomes a fleeting, relational thing.
Two points are essential to explain the necessary intimacy between the human body and the
human person. First, the body belongs to the human person in a non-instrumentalist way; it cannot be
grasped or claimed for oneself. We are born into our bodies. Embodiment both reveals human nature
and is essential to “lived” human nature. In this sense bodies are gifted to us. This section will non-
exhaustively define the concept of “lived” experience. Second, no part of the human body is absolutely
trivial. Every feature of the human b ody conditions the human mind, and therefore conditions the
individual’s worldview. The sexual difference between male and female – specifically the presence of a
womb in women – provides an apt example of how changes between bodies lead to vast differences in
worldviews. Together, these points converge at what it means for the body to be an extension of the
human person as a whole and total being.
108
Erazim Kohak, The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature (Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1984), 105.