Philosophizing the Body- Physical, Social, Psychosomatic & Spiritual Dimensions

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.

Nishant Alphonse Irudayadason (nishant@jdv.edu.in) is a professor of Philosophy at the Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth: Pontifical Institute of Philosophy and Religion (JDV), Pune, India. After having completed his doctoral studies on Derrida and Ethics at Université Paris-Est and in Insitut Catholique de Paris, France, he has been actively pursuing academic life. He has presented research papers in many National and International Conferences. He has authored two books, edited one book and penned more than 30 articles in National and International Journals as well as in edited books. He is currently the Chairperson of the doctoral programme in the Faculty of Philosophy at JDV. He is a regular contributor to contemporary political analysis in "Light of Truth", a bimonthly published from Kochi, Kerala.

**Contents and Sample Pages**