Explorations in Love and Sex

by Irving Singer

Overview

Beginning with a discussion of Kant, Schopenhauer, and others about the morality of sex and the morality of compassion, Explorations in Love and Sex offers a panoramic view of the philosophy of love from its beginnings in Plato up to the present. It examines the nature and limitations of sexual pluralism, and elaborates on Irving Singer's earlier ideas about appraisal and bestowal as well as various other distinctions he makes. The book's chapters are both philosophical and historical, and addressed to the average person who wants to understand the curious set of emotions called love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742512382
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/16/2001
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.24(w) x 9.26(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Irving Singer is professor of philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Feeling and Imagination and Sex: A Philosophical Primer.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 The Morality of Sex: Contra Kant and Schopenhauer Chapter 3 Sexual Pluralism and Its Limits Chapter 4 The History of Love Chapter 5 Love in the Twentieth Century Chapter 6 The Nature and Pursuit of Love Revisited Chapter 7 Sympathetic Intuition: Henry Bergson Chapter 8 Ortega on Love Chapter 9 Concluding Remarks: Love and Sex in the Twenty-First Century Chapter 10 Notes Chapter 11 Index

Editorial Reviews

There is no better explorer of the harmonization of love and sex than Irving Singer. He skillfully draws upon the works of disparate philosophical figures to provide us all with guidelines for better understanding the ways in which sex, love, and compassion interweave and enrich our lives.

Timothy J. Madigan

Irving Singer's prodigious writings on love and sex make him, in both style and accomplishment, a John Dewey of our generation. His philosophical 'Explorations' of Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Ortega y Gasset, Masters and Johnson, Freud, Plato, Bergson, and Sartre are illuminating and intellectually provocative, yet still down-to-earth. Another valuable achievement from his loving pen (or keyboard).

Alan Soble

Whereas most philosophers today have focused on problems of knowledge, Singer is among those few who treat the profound themes that lie at the core of human existence. This work extends his recent thought to show how love, sex, and compassion are mutually implicated. Singer's work as a whole has opened up the possibility of a lyrical, profound, and clear naturalistic humanism that can bring philosophy back from the deserts of cognitive theory and the nightmares of postmodernism.

Thomas M. Alexander

Whereas most philosophers today have focused on problems of knowledge, Singer is among those few who treat the profound themes that lie at the core of human existence. This work extends his recent thought to show how love, sex, and compassion are mutually implicated. Singer's work as a whole has opened up the possibility of a lyrical, profound, and clear naturalistic humanism that can bring philosophy back from the deserts of cognitive theory and the nightmares of postmodernism.

Thomas Alexander