Recent CDU MA graduate Colten P . Maertens chose as his thesis topic , “ Philosophical Inconsistency in the Popular Understanding of Gender : A Defense of the Sexed Body and its Significance to Gender .” The thesis will provide readers with valuable insights into some of the philosophy behind the current debate . It is especially helpful in the way that Colten seeks to find a proper understanding of gender itself . As he writes :
This thesis will focus on the question of philosophical inconsistency and what gender , specifically , cannot be . There are generally two essential questions concerning the issue of gender . First , is gender primarily objective - metaphysically concrete - or subjective - true only for the individual ? Second , in what ways does the body matter in regards to gendered experience of oneself ? These two questions are especially important in light of the popular , ideological movement to divorce two vitally important realities of the human body : biology and gender . This thesis will not definitively answer the complex question - “ what is gender ?” - Rather , this thesis will criticize the popular understanding of gender and its foundational concept of body schema as philosophically inconsistent : the popular understanding of gender claims that the physical body is objectively important for the human person ( affirming embodiment ), while concurrently denying inherent meaning in the physical body . Therefore , the popular understanding of gender denies the objectivity of human nature as embodied , as if the importance of the physical body were solely relational ( subjective ).
At a time of mass confusion not just in what gender means but increasingly what it is to be a human person , CDU is very happy to present Colten ' s contribution to the discussion .
Matthew E . Bunson , PhD , KCHS Faculty Chair Catholic Distance University