Hermeneutiek van het lichaam

Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, vol. 26, pp. 164–183

Abstract

In this inaugural lecture, I argue that philosophical anthropology in the twenty-first century should address questions about gender, race, sexual orientation. The lecture concentrates on gender and argues for a notion of gender (in Dutch ‘geslacht’) as a complex interaction between embodiment, personal identity, and the way it is given meaning in the social world around us. The implication is that transgender and cisgender identities are not opposed to each other. I furthermore suggest that hermeneutics offers the philosophical tools to consider these complex interactions. Firstly, because in hermeneutics humans are considered as embedded in history, language, culture. Secondly, because understanding the world entails self-interpretation and self-understanding. Thirdly, because starting points can be found in hermeneutics for thinking about the specific self-interpretation that is at play in the case of cis- and transgender people, namely the narrative one.

Authors 1

1. Annemie Halsema corresponding Aachen Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte, Universiteit Leiden