Understanding the Meaning of the Ambiguous Body – a Hermeneutic Concept Analysis of Flesh and Fleshly
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International Journal of Caring Sciences May – August 2019 Volume 12 | Issue 2| Page 593 Original Article Understanding the Meaning of the Ambiguous Body – A Hermeneutic Concept Analysis of Flesh and Fleshly Lorentsen, Vibeke Bruun, RN Assistant Professor, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, (former Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences), Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, Oslo, Norway Nåden, Dagfinn, RN, PhD Professor, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway Sæteren, Berit, RN, PhD Professor, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway Correspondence: Lorentsen, Vibeke Bruun, RN, Assistant Professor, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University (former Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences), Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, PB 4, St Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway e-mail: [email protected] 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. Key words: Body, flesh, fleshly, life experiences, concept analysis Introduction not through objective diagnostic labeling (Picco, Santoro, & Garrino, 2010; Sakalys, 2006). The The rational or objective dimension of the body patients are sensible to bodily signals and try to has got most attention in nursing practice and in understand what they mean according to the nursing research (Draper, 2014; Sandelowski, illness. It is crucial to make the invisible meaning 2002; Wolf, 2014). However, when the body dimensions of the body more visible by becomes sick, it might become like an alerting expressing them with words. Otherwise, if the device that sends out signals and inhabits patient has no concepts or language that helps meanings that are beyond the rational or him to understand what is going on in his body, objective meaning dimensions of the body. The the bodily changes might be perceived as vague, body speaks to the person through sensations and confusing and probably frightening and thus www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org International Journal of Caring Sciences May – August 2019 Volume 12 | Issue 2| Page 594 promote suffering. It is through concepts or Method language people understand the world and make The hermeneutic concept analysis was created by things meaningful (Eriksson, 2010; Gadamer, Koort (1975) and further developed by Eriksson 2004). The language forms the basis for (2010) and Sivonen, Kasén, and Eriksson (2010). understanding (Eriksson, 2010). The intention of this analysis is to gain a deeper In order to understand more about what the body understanding of the meaning content of a represents and means to the suffering human concept by doing an analysis of the lexical being we looked for a concept that captured the meaning of the concept related to its conceptual ambiguous body. We found that Merleau-Ponty family. The analysis searches to capture the (1968, 2002)’s philosophy of flesh inhabited this depth and core of the concept by detecting dimension. Merleau-Ponty (2002) states that the nuances, variations, and features, which might body is not only a physical object, but also the enable a deeper understanding of its meanings human existence is based in the body. Thus, the (Eriksson, 2010; Honkavuo et al., 2018). body is something we have, but the body is also The dictionaries to be included should cover as something we are (Merleau-Ponty, 2002). In his long a period as possible so that a development latest and unfinished work, Merleau-Ponty of the concept and its meaning and synonyms (1968) goes a bit further and seeks to capture and can be seen. In this study five etymological express both the visible but also the invisible dictionaries and nine Norwegian language dimensions of the body in order to understand dictionaries, published between 1937 and 2016 the deepness and inner reality of the human have been investigated. The dictionaries, except being. He describes flesh as the individual’s the etymological ones, are shown in table 1. No body, but it has also a metaphoric meaning and is older dictionaries were included because flesh an element of being (Merleau-Ponty, 1968; does not appear in the oldest Norwegian Sandelowski, 2002; Wolf, 2014). dictionaries. The authority of the dictionaries was Scientific articles (Gabrielsen, Lindström, & taken into consideration when selecting them for Nåden, 2009; Honkavuo, Sivonen, Eriksson, & inclusion. Nåden, 2018; Werkander Harstäde, Roxberg, The first step in the analysis is to study the Andershed, & Brunt, 2012) refer to hermeneutic history of the concept (an etymological analysis). concept analysis to explore the meaning of a The analysis yields knowledge on how a concept concept. Thus, we found it suitable to perform a is used and understood in a language during a hermeneutic concept analysis (Eriksson, 2010; historical period. The original and ancient Koort, 1975; Sivonen, Kasén, & Eriksson, 2010) meaning of a word, even if concrete and old of flesh and fleshly and a review of descriptions fashioned, can reveal the intrinsic meaning of flesh in the dictionaries to bring forth a deeper content of the concept and lead to concrete meaning of flesh and fleshly and hence the situations and contexts that have formed our ambiguous body. It was necessary to perform mental notions attached to the word, but also lead two analysis because flesh has synonyms that are to new meanings that may open up our nouns (flesh) and adjectives (fleshly), and they understanding of the body today. have to be separated according to the method. The second step was to explore the lexical Few studies have explored in a deeper sense the meaning content of the concepts and its related meaning of body. Sivonen and Kasén (2003) synonyms and strong and weak synonyms were have done a concept analysis of body, and uncovered (table 1). If the examination of the Lindwall (2004) has done a modified semantic dictionaries shows that the synonyms are the analysis of body in her doctoral thesis. There same in all the dictionaries the semantic analysis seems to be no semantic analysis of flesh and is completed. However, when this was not the fleshly. case in our study, discrimination matrixes were The aim of this study is therefore to explore and made which show the number of dictionaries in understand the meaning and content of the which the synonyms of the concept’s synonyms concepts flesh and fleshly. Likewise, to show are identical with the synonyms of the original how this knowledge can enrich the understanding concept. Then the interrelatedness or the degree of the ambiguous body and what the body means of synonyms from the matrixes were estimated to the suffering human being. and the results are illustrated in two maps or discrimination paradigms with main concepts www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org International Journal of Caring Sciences May – August 2019 Volume 12 | Issue 2| Page 595 and the synonyms of the synonyms which are humans’ bodies. It is the soft, bloody and greasy regarded as characteristics of the concept (the part of the human or animal body, in contrast to paradigm phase) (figure 1 & 2). bones and sinews (Bjorvand & Lindeman, 2000; Online Etymology Dictionary; Ordbog over det According to Koort (1975) only synonyms with danske sprog. Historisk ordbog 1700-1950; 40-50 % degree of synonymy should be included Svenska Akademiens Ordbok SAOB). in the further analysis. Eriksson and Herberts (1993) broadened the perspective and claimed Flesh has, in the Bible, a figurative use as carnal that sometimes even a weak synonym can be nature, animal or physical nature of man, included if related to the research interest or to especially in Paul’s use of the Greek sarx. This the original meaning content of the word. In line leads to a sense of ‘sensual appetites’ from the with the above statement, we have included all 1200s. In a religious tract from 1548 we find the synonyms in the discrimination paradigm, but fleshling, meaning ‘a sensual person’ (Online in the description of results, we will concentrate Etymology Dictionary). In Norwegian, flesh is on the words with the strongest bindings. an inherited word that, when used in religious settings has the Norwegian and Danish word- In the last phase, we did an interpretation of the form kjød (Bjorvand & Lindeman, 2000; Falk & results from the discrimination paradigms and Torp, 1994). It is the bodily condition as opposed the descriptions from dictionaries. The to the spiritual. interpretation was inspired by Gadamer (2004)’s ontological hermeneutics. The results were Flesh has also the meaning of fruit from 1570 interpreted through a dialogue or dialectical (Online Etymology Dictionary).