Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings

by Alan Soble (Editor), Nicholas Power (Editor)

For three decades, Alan Soble has supplied the authoritative roadmap for students and faculty who study the subject of sex. In this new fifth edition of The Philosophy of Sex, Soble and co-editor Nicholas Power have collected thirty contemporary essays that explore philosophically, conceptually, and theologically the nature, social meanings, and morality of contemporary sexual phenomena. Contributors address myriad topics, including cybersex and the Internet, masturbation, contraception, sexual perversion, gay and lesbian sexuality, same-sex marriage, casual sex and promiscuity, pedophilia, rape and date rape, sexual use and objectification, sexual relationships between teachers and students, pornography, and prostitution. NEW to this edition: Each of the thirty essays is preceded by an informative introduction written by the two editors and each essay is followed by a set of provocative study questions developed by the editors to stimulate critical thinking about sexuality. Contributing authors, some of whom were commissioned for this new edition, include Martha Nussbaum, Thomas Nagel, Alan Goldman, John Finnis, Sallie Tisdale, Jerome Neu, Robin West, Louise Collins, Alan Wertheimer, Greta Christina, John Corvino, Cheshire Calhoun, Raja Halwani, Yolanda Estes, and others. The editors provide a comprehensive bibliography of over 700 philosophical and general readings in sexuality. Intended in part as a textbook for use in university courses in the philosophy of sex, gender, and ethics, the book is also a valuable resource for researchers in sexuality and a reader-friendly introduction to puzzles about sexuality for anyone who enjoys exploring this ubiquitous human experience.

Genres: Philosophy, Sexuality, Nonfiction, Theory, Essays

552 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

210719 later thoughts: one thought now several days later, possibly only for me, is sudden, heightened fear for all girls and women against their vulnerability to sexual assaults... i have known victims, i have some sense of exactly how arbitrary and cruel and always unprovoked are such, wherever and whenever. i must confront how sex, which is positive, can be so viciously twisted to negative- and wonder, appalled, who are these men who assault, who are these men who blame women, refusing to convict... these are the essays hardest to read in this collection, especially the first person recall. i fear, i hate, i want to destroy such men. i have no trouble imagining how radicals feminists are wanting to castrate offenders...

160719: extensive collection of philosophical essays on sex. some v good some less. best to read as resource, probably not all at once. choice of kind of philosophy, dialogue between essays, ideologically dispersed from radical, liberal, feminists, conservatives. stimulating thoughts...

thoughts: years (decades...) past sex is something that tells the world i am mature, i am no kid, i am man now... and buying hardcopy porn is like trying to get into bars underage, rite of passage, but i never actually shared porn, talked porn, thought porn, with the guys. there is an era i do consume much porn but this is in fact when i am already active so i do not know how much it taught me/misled me about women than anything else in our culture...

thoughts: years (decades...) past i realize that i am adopting the term ‘porn’ for derision of all the primarily-imagistic hardcopy magazines i buy of, for example, art and architecture, film and music... as this is literary prejudice against values of anything without words. then i meet riley and start to look at graphics, comics, art books...

thoughts: years (decades...) past there is newsstand few stores from coffeehouse, both gone now, but in days of slick magazines and no online for customers, there is clear sex segregation on entering store: men right, women left. staff agree, everyone is looking for fantasy, men for ‘things’, women for ‘relations’... the ‘things’ are cars, trucks, computers, fantasies of sports heroes, business heroes, and inevitably... naked bodies, female or male, bodies they have little likelihood of meeting. the ‘relations’ are houses, gardens, food, fashion, fantasies of emotional excitement and inevitably... gossip about known famous actors, musicians, people they have little likelihood of meeting...

i mention this parallel to my then-current girlfriend, who vehemently rejects any similarities, primarily, i guess, because one is sex and sex is obviously fantasy but house and garden and family and friends, however famous, are the real thing...

more
Blind Date: Sex and Philosophy
Philosophizing About Sex
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Sex Without Love

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection.

[Ashley Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Textbook in college that introduced me to some writers I still read today.

[Bellina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent combination of philosophical essays. Pick your poison!

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Some of the articles made me mad as hell, but I learned a lot.