Philosophy of sex  

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 +"the [[human sexuality|sexual impulse]] ... appears as a [[malevolent]] [[demon]] that strives to [[perversion|pervert]], confuse, and overthrow everything" [[the sexual impulse ... appears as a malevolent demon that strives to pervert, confuse, and overthrow everything|[...]]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], "[[The Metaphysics of Sexual Love]]"
 +<hr>
 +"[[Human sexuality]] is, quite apart from [[Christianity and sexual morality |Christian repression]]s, a highly [[questionable]] phenomenon, and belongs, at least potentially, among the [[extreme]] rather than the ordinary experiences of [[humanity]]. Tamed as it may be, sexuality remains one of the [[demon]]ic forces in human [[consciousness]] - pushing us at intervals close to [[taboo]] and [[dangerous]] [[sexual desire|desire]]s, which range from the [[impulse]] to commit sudden arbitrary [[violence]] upon another person to the voluptuous yearning for the [[extinction]] of one's consciousness, for [[death]] itself." --[[Susan Sontag]] in the "[[The Pornographic Imagination]]"
 +|}
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-:''[[sexual ethics]]'' 
'''Philosophy of sex''' is the part of [[applied philosophy]] studying [[human sexual behavior|sex]] and [[love]]. It includes both [[ethics]] of phenomena such as [[prostitution]], [[rape]], [[sexual harassment]], [[sexual identity]], and [[homosexuality]], and conceptual analysis of concepts such as "what is sex"? It also includes questions of sexuality and sexual identity and the [[ontological]] status of [[gender]]. Contemporary philosophy of sex is rooted in Western [[feminism]]. Issues raised by feminists regarding gender differences, sexual politics, and the nature of sexual identity are important questions in the philosophy of sex. '''Philosophy of sex''' is the part of [[applied philosophy]] studying [[human sexual behavior|sex]] and [[love]]. It includes both [[ethics]] of phenomena such as [[prostitution]], [[rape]], [[sexual harassment]], [[sexual identity]], and [[homosexuality]], and conceptual analysis of concepts such as "what is sex"? It also includes questions of sexuality and sexual identity and the [[ontological]] status of [[gender]]. Contemporary philosophy of sex is rooted in Western [[feminism]]. Issues raised by feminists regarding gender differences, sexual politics, and the nature of sexual identity are important questions in the philosophy of sex.
Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include [[Alan Soble]] and [[Judith Butler]]. Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include [[Alan Soble]] and [[Judith Butler]].
-Notable treatises of the past are ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' (c. 1 B.C.) by Ovid, ''[[A philosophy of lasciviousness]]'' (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, ''[[Philosophy in the Bedroom]]'' (1795) by Marquis de Sade and René Guyon's ''[[The Ethics of Sexual Acts]]'' (1934).+Notable treatises of the past are ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' (c. 1 B.C.) by Ovid, ''[[A philosophy of lasciviousness]]'' (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, ''[[The Metaphysics of Sexual Love]]'' by Schopenhauer and René Guyon's ''[[The Ethics of Sexual Acts]]'' (1934). A special case is that of ''[[Philosophy in the Bedroom]]'' (1795) by Marquis de Sade, which is only related to this subject by title.
== History of the philosophy of sex == == History of the philosophy of sex ==
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*Is sexuality a function of gender or biological sex? *Is sexuality a function of gender or biological sex?
-== References and suggested readings ==+==Sexual desire==
 +Moral evaluations of sexual activity are determined by judgments on the nature of the sexual impulse. In this light, philosophies fall into two camps:
-* Aquinas, St. Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Cambridge, Eng.: Blackfriars, 1964-76.+A negative understanding of sexuality, such as from [[Immanuel Kant]], believes that sexuality undermines values, and challenges our moral treatment of other persons.
 +Sex, says Kant, "[[makes of the loved person an Object of appetite]]" (Lectures on Ethics). In this understanding, [[sexual celibacy]] may lead to the best, or most moral life. Sometimes it is advised only for the purpose of procreation. ([[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]])
-* Augustine, St. (Aurelius). On Marriage and Concupiscence, in The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, vol. 12, ed. Marcus Dods. Edinburgh, Scot.: T. & T. Clark, 1874.+A positive understanding of sexuality has been fashionable in Western philosophy since [[Wilhelm Reich]].
-* Baker, Robert, Kathleen Wininger, and Frederick Elliston, eds. Philosophy and Sex, 3rd edition. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1998.+== Putative perversions ==
 +:''[[Paraphilia]]''
-* Baumrin, Bernard. "Sexual Immorality Delineated," in Robert Baker and Frederick Elliston, eds., Philosophy and Sex, 2nd edition. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1984, pp. 300-11.+[[Thomas Nagel]] proposes that only sexual interactions with mutual [[sexual arousal]] are natural to human sexuality. Perverted sexual encounters or events would be those in which this reciprocal arousal is absent, and in which a person remains fully a subject of the sexual experience or fully an object.
-* Bloom, Allan. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.+==Consent==
 +:''[[Informed consent]]''
-* Buckley Jr., William F., [[Camille Paglia]], [[Betty Friedan]], [[Arianna Huffington]], [[Michael Kinsley]], et al., "Has the Women's Movement Been Disastrous?: A Firing Line Debate," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996). 
-*Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 1990 
- +==See also==
-*Butler, Judith, Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex, 1993+*[[Montaigne on sexuality]]
- +*[[Kant on human sexuality]]
-* Christensen, F. M., "A Defense of Pornography," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996).+*[[Schopenhauer on human sexuality]]
- +* [[A philosophy of lasciviousness]]
-* Christina, Greta. "Are We Having Sex Now or What?" in Alan Soble, ed., The Philosophy of Sex, 3rd edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 3-8.+* [[Philosophy of love]]
- +* [[Sex-positive movement|Sex positivism]]
-* [[John Finnis|Finnis, John]]. "Law, Morality, and 'Sexual Orientation'," Notre Dame Law Review 69:5 (1994), pp. 1049-76.+*[[Schopenhauer's strong blind man]], a comment on the irrationality of the libido by Schopenhauer.
- +*[[The gods, says Plato, have given us one disobedient and unruly member]], a comment on the irrationality of the libido by Plato.
-* Finnis, John and [[Martha Nussbaum]]. "Is Homosexual Conduct Wrong? A Philosophical Exchange," in Alan Soble, ed., The Philosophy of Sex, 3rd edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 89-94.+*[[Balzac, Zola and psychology of lechery ]]
- +*[[Pornosophy]]
-*[[Michel Foucault|Foucault, Michel]]. ''The History of Sexuality. Vols. 1-3''. New York: Vintage, 1990. (Original French publications of the three volumes in 1978, 1984, and 1984, respectively)+*[[Sexual ethics]]
- +*[[Theory of love]]
-* Gray, Robert. "Sex and Sexual Perversion," in Alan Soble, ed., The Philosophy of Sex, 3rd edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 57-66.+
- +
-* Grisez, Germain. The Way of the Lord Jesus. Quincy, Ill.: Franciscan Press, 1993.+
- +
-* Gudorf, Christine. Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1994.+
- +
-* Hampton, Jean. "Defining Wrong and Defining Rape," in Keith Burgess-Jackson, ed., A Most Detestable Crime: New Philosophical Essays on Rape. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 118-56.+
- +
-* Held, Virginia. "Coercion and Coercive Offers," in J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman, eds., Coercion: Nomos VIX. Chicago, Ill.: Aldine, 1972, pp. 49-62.+
- +
-* Jung, Patricia, and Ralph Smith. Heterosexism: An Ethical Challenge. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1993.+
- +
-* Kant, Immanuel. Lectures on Ethics. Translated by Louis Infield. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.+
- +
-* Kant, Immanuel. The Metaphysics of Morals . Translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1996.+
- +
-* Lewis, C. S. The Four Loves. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960.+
- +
-* MacKinnon, Catherine A., "The Money of Playboy Magazine," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996).+
- +
-* Mappes, Thomas. "Sexual Morality and the Concept of Using Another Person," in Thomas Mappes and Jane Zembaty, eds., Social Ethics, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992, pp. 203-26.+
- +
-* Mayo, David. "An Obligation to Warn of HIV Infection?" in Alan Soble, ed., Sex, Love and Friendship. Amsterdam. Hol.: Editions Rodopi, 1997, pp. 447-53.+
- +
-* Muehlenhard, Charlene, and Jennifer Schrag. "Nonviolent Sexual Coercion," in A. Parrot and L. Bechhofer, eds, Acquaintance Rape. The Hidden Crime. New York: John Wiley, 1991, pp. 115-28.+
- +
-* Murphy, Jeffrie. "Some Ruminations on Women, Violence, and the Criminal Law," in Jules Coleman and Allen Buchanan, eds., In Harm's Way: Essays in Honor of Joel Feinberg. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 209-30.+
- +
-* Nagel, Thomas. "Sexual Perversion," in Alan Soble, ed., The Philosophy of Sex, 3st edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 9-20.+
- +
-* Nielson-Jones, Oliver. "Sex, Escaping The Rat Race" In G.Bennett and A.Robinson, eds., Sexual Philosophy, 2006, pp. 7-29+
- +
-* O'Neill, Onora. "Between Consenting Adults," Philosophy and Public Affairs 14:3 (1985), pp. 252-77.+
- +
-* Plato. Symposium. Translated by Michael Joyce, in E. Hamilton and H. Cairns, eds., The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 526-74.+
- +
-* Posner, Richard. Sex and Reason. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.+
- +
-* Sanders, Stephanie, and June Reinisch. "Would You Say You 'Had Sex' If . . . ?" Journal of the American Medical Association 281:3 (January 20, 1999), pp. 275-77.+
- +
-* Scheer, Robert, "Bigger Breasts: The Great Implant Lie," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996).+
- +
-* [[Roger Scruton|Scruton, Roger]]. Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic. New York: Free Press, 1986.+
- +
-* Singer, Irving. The Nature of Love, vol. 2: Courtly and Romantic. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1984.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan. "Antioch's 'Sexual Offense Policy': A Philosophical Exploration," Journal of Social Philosophy 28:1 (1997), pp. 22-36.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan. The Philosophy of Sex and Love: An Introduction. St. Paul, Minn.: Paragon House, 1998.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan. Sexual Investigations. New York: New York University Press,1996.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan, ed. Eros, Agape and Philia. New York: Paragon House, 1989.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan, ed. The Philosophy of Sex, 4th edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.+
- +
-* Soble, Alan, ed. Sex, Love, and Friendship. Amsterdam, Hol.: Editions Rodopi, 1996.+
- +
-* Solomon, Robert, and Kathleen Higgins, eds. The Philosophy of (Erotic) Love. Lawrence. Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 1991.+
- +
-* Stewart, Robert M., ed. Philosophical Perspectives on Sex and Love. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.+
- +
-* Vannoy, Russell. Sex Without Love: A Philosophical Exploration. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1980.+
- +
-* Verene, Donald, ed. Sexual Love and Western Morality, 2nd edition. Boston, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 1995.+
- +
-* Wertheimer, Alan. "Consent and Sexual Relations," Legal Theory 2:2 (1996), pp. 89-112.+
- +
-* Wojtyla, Karol [Pope John Paul II]. Love and Responsibility. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981.+
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Current revision

"the sexual impulse ... appears as a malevolent demon that strives to pervert, confuse, and overthrow everything" [...], Arthur Schopenhauer, "The Metaphysics of Sexual Love"


"Human sexuality is, quite apart from Christian repressions, a highly questionable phenomenon, and belongs, at least potentially, among the extreme rather than the ordinary experiences of humanity. Tamed as it may be, sexuality remains one of the demonic forces in human consciousness - pushing us at intervals close to taboo and dangerous desires, which range from the impulse to commit sudden arbitrary violence upon another person to the voluptuous yearning for the extinction of one's consciousness, for death itself." --Susan Sontag in the "The Pornographic Imagination"

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Philosophy of sex is the part of applied philosophy studying sex and love. It includes both ethics of phenomena such as prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, sexual identity, and homosexuality, and conceptual analysis of concepts such as "what is sex"? It also includes questions of sexuality and sexual identity and the ontological status of gender. Contemporary philosophy of sex is rooted in Western feminism. Issues raised by feminists regarding gender differences, sexual politics, and the nature of sexual identity are important questions in the philosophy of sex.

Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include Alan Soble and Judith Butler.

Notable treatises of the past are Ars Amatoria (c. 1 B.C.) by Ovid, A philosophy of lasciviousness (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, The Metaphysics of Sexual Love by Schopenhauer and René Guyon's The Ethics of Sexual Acts (1934). A special case is that of Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795) by Marquis de Sade, which is only related to this subject by title.

Contents

History of the philosophy of sex

Throughout much of the history of Western philosophy, questions of sex and sexuality have been relegated to ethics. There have, however, been deviations from this pattern out of which emerge a tradition of speaking of sexual issues in their own right.

Questions in philosophy of sex

  • What is romantic love?
  • Is there an essential characteristic that makes an act sexual?
  • Are some sexual acts good and others bad? According to what criteria? Alternatively, can consensual sexual acts be immoral, or are they outside the realm of ethics?
  • Are sexual identities rooted in some fundamental ontological difference (such as biology)?
  • Is sexuality a function of gender or biological sex?

Sexual desire

Moral evaluations of sexual activity are determined by judgments on the nature of the sexual impulse. In this light, philosophies fall into two camps:

A negative understanding of sexuality, such as from Immanuel Kant, believes that sexuality undermines values, and challenges our moral treatment of other persons. Sex, says Kant, "makes of the loved person an Object of appetite" (Lectures on Ethics). In this understanding, sexual celibacy may lead to the best, or most moral life. Sometimes it is advised only for the purpose of procreation. (1 Corinthians)

A positive understanding of sexuality has been fashionable in Western philosophy since Wilhelm Reich.

Putative perversions

Paraphilia

Thomas Nagel proposes that only sexual interactions with mutual sexual arousal are natural to human sexuality. Perverted sexual encounters or events would be those in which this reciprocal arousal is absent, and in which a person remains fully a subject of the sexual experience or fully an object.

Consent

Informed consent


See also




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