Sexual Desire: A Philosophical InvestigationA&C Black, 5. märts 2006 - 448 pages A dazzling treatise, as erudite and eloquent as Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and considerably more sound in its conclusion - TLS "He is an eloquent and practised writer" - The Independent (UK) When John desires Mary or Mary desires John, what does either of them want? What is meant by innocence, passion, love and arousal, desire, perversion and shame? These are just a few of the questions Roger Scruton addresses in this thought-provoking intellectual adventure. Beginning from purely philosophical premises, and ranging over human life, art and institutions, he surveys the entire field of sexuality; equally dissatisfied with puritanism and permissiveness, he argues for a radical break with recent theories. Upholding traditional morality - though in terms that may shock many of its practitioners - his argument gravitates to that which is candid, serene and consoling in the experience of sexual love. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 85
... reasons for this : first , that it is stylistically correct ; secondly , that it is the most effective way of leaving sex out of it - as one must leave sex out of the discussion of desire . What I mean by that second reason can be ...
... reason for rejecting the modern prejudice is hard to discover , and it will not be before the end of this book that the reader will have my reasons for thinking that the sexual act is , and must always 2 SEXUAL DESIRE.
... reason.12 The classifications which define the ' phenomenological kinds ' of the Lebenswelt are only partly responsive to the enterprise of prediction . They sometimes dissolve under the impact of scientific explanation , not because ...
... reasons . They make decisions for the future , and so have intentions in addition to desires . They do not allow ... reason and cause , intention and desire , action and passion , esteem and affection - we find aspects of the vital ...
... reason to suppose that such a classification will provide sufficient basis for our rational conduct , just as there is no reason to think that the chemical classification of stones will provide a basis for the activity of the sculptor ...
Contents
1 | |
16 | |
36 | |
4 Desire | 59 |
5 The individual object | 94 |
6 Sexual phenomena | 138 |
7 The science of sex | 180 |
8 Love | 213 |
11 Sexual morality | 322 |
12 The politics of sex | 348 |
Epilogue | 362 |
Appendix 1 The first person | 364 |
Appendix 2 Intentionality | 377 |
Notes | 392 |
Index of Names | 419 |
Index of Subjects | 424 |