PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

University of San Agustin

AY: 2014-2015: First Semester

CHAPTER 2: INTERPERSONAL DIMENSION

Lecture 4: The Human Person as a Sexual Being
Natural Complementarity of Man and Woman: Karol Wojtyla
By Alma Santiago-Espartinez (A Summary)
Introduction

The person, as one who is by nature a sexual being, has a natural predilection
for and a tendency to seek the other sex.
This natural complementarity enables man and woman, in their total selfdonation expressed in and through the conjugal act, to give their Is to each
other, to share with each other their entire life-project, what they have and what
they are.
This mutual self-giving of husband and wife find its expression in and through
the body.

The Person and the Body

Man is different (superior) from the visible world of living beings and this leads us to
the affirmation of the absolute impossibility of reducing man to the world
over the world to subdue and have dominion over it.
Man is transcendent over the rest of Gods creation and his resemblance of
God more than the world of nature mans ontological uniqueness makes him
realize that man (no reference to sex) is alone mans very nature, his humanity.
The human body means of expression of the person; when acting he
employs his body as a compliant tool to express his self-determination. The
essential relation of the body to the person prevents us from treating the body as a
machine that can be manipulated for ones own purpose. If the body is a machine,
it can owned (slavery), altered (tubal ligation, vasectomy, contraception), bought,
sold and rented (pornography, prostitution and surrogate motherhood); sexual
contact (contact of two machines) the human body ceases to express a unique
and individual person.
The body should be the means of the persons expression of love, of self-donation,
to another person.
The value of the human body is clearly understood in its relation to the
human person.

Unity of Man and Woman

Mans (humankind) experience of original solitude leads to the unity of man

and woman through masculinity and femininity. Two crucial points: first, it reveals
the characteristic transcendence peculiar to the person he is unique among

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

University of San Agustin

AY: 2014-2015: First Semester

the visible world of living things; second, it leads to the discovery of an

adequate relationship to the person, an opening and expectation of a
communion of persons it gives man and woman the possibility of being and
existing in a special reciprocity
Man and woman, possessing a body, see each other as complementary
beings capable of completing each other.

The Sexual Urge

The sexual urge is the specific orientation of the whole human being resulting
from the divisions of the species homo into two sexes.
The natural direction of the sexual urge is not merely towards the the other
sex as such but towards the human being of the other sex.
Mans sexual urge is naturally subordinate to the will the person is in
control; animals sexual urge is instinctive action governed by nature.

Sensuality

The person is a limited being, not self-sufficient. Sex is a limitation, an imbalance;

thus, a man needs a woman to complete his own being, and a woman needs a man
in the same way.
Sensuality (contact between man and woman is presented through the senses,
exposed to each others sense) is an attraction to the bodily sexual values
residing in all persons of the opposite sex; a sensory reaction; implies
experiencing a particular value bound up with this sensory awareness connected
with the body.
Sensuality is directed primarily and immediately towards a body and indirectly
towards the person of the other sex. It has a consumer orientation body,
potential object of enjoyment and exploitation.
It should not be regarded as evil but a natural thing; there is a connection between
sensuality and sexual vitality of the human body. In the order of nature, sexual life
is directed towards procreation the person of the other sex serves this end.
It is blind to the person and oriented only towards the sexual value connected with
the body.

Sentiment and Sentimental Love

Sentiment concerns with the totality of the person. It is an emotional

reaction to the particular person of the other sex in his/her totality.
Sentimental love desires for nearness, proximity, exclusivity, intimacy and a longing
to be always along together. It keeps people close together even if they are
physically far apart.
The values attached by the subject to the object of his love may not be real values
actually possessed by the other ideals only. There should be a direct

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

University of San Agustin

AY: 2014-2015: First Semester

attraction to the person (the person as such is a value) and not merely to the
qualities possessed by the person.
Sexual Shame

Shame manifests almost instinctively mans need to be affirmed and accepted

according to his rightful value the essential supra-utilitarian character of the
person (the person must not be regarded (even in ones private thoughts) as an
object of use.
Shame is a tendency, uniquely characteristic of the human person to
conceal sexual values sufficiently to prevent them from obscuring the
value of the person (first aspect); a longing to inspire or experience of
love (second)
Shame opens the way towards love.

The Nuptial Meaning of the Body

It is through the body that the capacity of expressing love is manifested.

The nuptial meaning of the body: first, it indicates mans capacity of
expressing love in which man becomes a gift; second, it expresses the capacity
and deep availability for the affirmation of the person the acceptance of the
gift which through reciprocity and the exchange of the gift of the body
according to its masculinity and femininity, creates the union of persons.

Integration of Love

The integration of love is the incorporation of sexual value in the value of the
person, or its subordination to the value of the person.
Love is directed to the person; not just to the body or the human being of
the other sex.
One chooses the person for the sake of the person; the choice is personal, not
sexual.

The Commandment to Love (Between two persons of different sex)

Love is the fullest realization of the possibilities inherent in man.

Love is always a mutual relationship between persons; it is concerned with persons
directly and immediately
The commandment to love: to surrender oneself to another person.
o Marriage expression of a mutual self-donation of husband and wife in and
through their bodies. Since man is an incarnate spirit, he is called to love in
his unified totality.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

University of San Agustin

AY: 2014-2015: First Semester

The Experience of Human Sexuality

Overview of Human Sexuality
Love is the answer, but while you are waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good
questions. Woody Allen
It is not sex that gives the pleasure, but the lover. Marge Piercy

Sex, Gender and Sexuality

Sex biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. Male
or female sex categories. Sex characteristics: women can menstruate while men
do not; men have testicles while women do not; women have developed breasts
that are usually capable of lactating while men do not; men generally have more
massive bones than women.

Gender socially constructed roles, behaviors and activities and attributes that a
given society considers appropriate for men and women. Masculine and feminine
are gender categories. Gender characteristics: in the US (and most other countries),
women earn significantly less money than men for similar work; in Viet Nam, many
more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been
considered appropriate; in Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women
are not; in most of the world, women do more housework than men.

Human Sexuality the way in which we experience and express ourselves as

sexual beings. It has to do with: being female or male, and how females and males
are alike and different in the way they look and act; how we view our bodies and our
relationships with each other; how we grow and change over the years; who we are
as men and women; how we reproduce.

Sex Change and Reassignment

A reconstructive surgery that involves radical mutilation, sex change is a procedure

by which a male is altered to anatomically resemble a female, or vice versa.

Moral Consideration:
o
o

No transsexual surgery will ever be able to duplicate completely the anatomy

or the function of the opposite sex.
No biological cause of transsexualism has been identified stem cause is
from psychological development.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

University of San Agustin

AY: 2014-2015: First Semester

A transsexual will never be able to consummate the marriage in the fullest

expression of love of husband and wife, and never will there be a real
openness to life and the begetting children.

Sex in Animals VS. Sex in Man

Man performs sex under three conditions: physiological, psychological and spiritual.
Physiological condition involves a physical union between parts of the bodies
commonly known to us as intercourse. Psycho-spiritual union involves union of
minds.

Sex and Personal Objectives

Four common purpose of sex: reproduction, expression of love,

communication and interpersonal awareness. Self-satisfaction is also one,
but it should not dominate the purpose leads to sexual perversions life pre-marital
sex, homosexuality, masturbation, adultery, etc.

Sexual Perversion

Acts which depart from the natural purpose of sex.

Sex and Love

Sexual union without love is purely a physical union of two bodies, while sexual
union with love is something beyond sexual intercourse. It is not only a union of two
bodies, but a union of two hearts, of two minds, of two persons.

Sex should be selfless; good sex is no longer self-seeking, a sinking in the

intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes
renunciation and it is ready, and even willing, for sacrifice.

Sex and Respect of Ones Individuality

Abstinence and refusal are two experiences that cannot be divorced from sex.

Sex is Creative

In case of abstinence and refusal one can redirect the sexual energy or drive to
other creative activities.