Understanding the Meaning of the Ambiguous Body - A Hermeneutic Concept Analysis of Flesh and Fleshly

Abstract

Background: When the body becomes sick it sends out signals that might be difficult to interpret for the suffering human being. If the patient has no concepts or language that helps him to understand what is going on in his body, the bodily changes might be perceived as confusing and perhaps frightening and thus promote suffering. Merleau-Ponty seeks to describe the visible, but also the invisible body in order to understand the deepness and inner reality of the human being with his philosophy of flesh, a concept which may deepen our understanding of the human body. Aim: The aim of the study is to explore and understand the meaning and content of the concepts of flesh and fleshly. Likewise, to show how this knowledge can enrich the understanding of the ambiguous body and what the body means to the suffering human being. Method: To bring forth a deeper clarity and meaning of flesh and fleshly and hence the body, it was necessary to perform a hermeneutic concept analysis of flesh and fleshly, created by Koort and further developed by Sivonen, Kasén and Eriksson, and a review of descriptions of flesh in the dictionaries. Results and conclusion: The study reveals dimensions of flesh as corporeal, protective, temporal, sensuous, shameful and vigorous body. It is important that nurses are aware of these bodily dimensions in order to help the patients articulate and make visible some of the wordlessness and invisibility, which concern the body, and thus help the patients regain feelings of dignity and health.