Sex

Resumen del libro

Sex can be a source of intense life-affirming pleasure when it is present and going well, frustration or misery when it is absent or unsatisfying. It can bond our most important and intimate unions, but it can also make us feel degraded or used, or indeed utterly abandoned or betrayed. It is one of the central mechanisms through which individuals can bring happiness or hurt to the lives of others, as well as their own. It also has a peculiar power to tempt us to act against our own best interests and judgements.

Seiriol Morgan explores the philosophy of sex, offering an accessible analysis of the place of sex in human life, and a discussion of the kinds of sexual lives that might be compatible with living well. The book opens with a discussion of the nature of sexual desire, which uses examples from anecdote and literature to bring out its complexities, focusing particularly on the ways in which its bodily and psychological elements interact to construct the many and various sexual desires and quirks we experience. Special attention is paid to the darker peccadilloes that human beings are prone to eroticise, and the dangers this can pose. Later chapters discuss such issues as fidelity, promiscuity and seduction, as well as more broadly social concerns such as pornography and the importance of the family.