Maritain's conception of the masculine and feminine identity of vis-a-vis the document of the Congregation for Catholic Education on gender
Abstract
The recent document of the Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) on the question of gender 'Male and Female He Created Them' emphasises the importance of the sexual difference for the masculine and feminine identity. On the other hand, in his essay 'Faisons-lui une aide semblable a lui' (1967), J.
Maritain insists that this difference is more a difference of the soul than a difference of the body. His concept of the masculine and feminine specificity is based both on biblical and philosophical arguments.
This study tries to show, how Maritain's ideas about the sub-specificity of man's and woman's soul can be complementary to the anthropology of the above-mentioned document of the CCE. Furthermore, it shows also a critical point of view of Maritain's idea of manhood and womanhood with the emphasis on the philosophical terms which are used for the difference between man and woman.