Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings

by Alan Soble (Editor), H E. Baber (Contributor), S J. Cheshire Calhoun (Contributor)

Just what is normal sexual behavior? What is the role of fantasy in our sexual lives? How can we tell the difference between sexual harassment and actions that are simply in poor taste? Is there really any harm in looking at pornography? And is there a way to reconcile Christian faith with homosexual practice? People have been asking these questions for a long time, but there is still widespread disagreement among those who have proposed answers.
In the fourth edition of The Philosophy of Sex , distinguished philosophers and social critics confront a variety of issues, including prostitution, adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, and the different attitudes men and women have about sex. Alan Soble has taught and written about the philosophy of sex and love since 1976. Once again he carefully collects the most innovative and exciting new pieces in his area of expertise and blends them with the field's most seminal contemporary writings.
The fourth edition, the most comprehensive to date, still includes historically important essays by Thomas Nagel, Robert Solomon, Janice Moulton, Robert Gray, and Alan Goldman. To these solid foundations, Soble has added a new section on Kant and sex, as well as new essays by Michael E. Levin, Cheshire Calhoun, Irving Singer, and Pat Califia. Soble has also penned a new introductory essay, "The Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Sex," designed to ease students into, and provoke them about, the subject matter.

Genres: Philosophy, Sexuality, Nonfiction, Theory, Essays

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.