Description
Book SynopsisBeginning with a discussion of Kant, Schopenhauer and others about the morality of sex and the morality of compassion, this study offers a view of the philosophy of love from it's beginnings in Plato to the present.
Trade ReviewWhereas 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, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
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, Ph.D., University of Rochester
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, University of New Orleans; co-editor of The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings (sixth edition, 2013)
Table of ContentsChapter 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
