Philosophy Of Sex

In today’s modern world,specially in India,the problem is not that we are

thinking too much about sex,the problem is that we are thinking about it in
all the wrong directions.Also,it had received very little attention in the
history of western philosophy.Augustine said sex is dangerous to a
harmonious civilized life and that its pleasures are dangerous in mastering
us.He allowed sex only for the purposes of procreation.Christian
philosophers denounced sex.Aquinas allowed for moral permissibility of
sex only for the purpose of procreation,that too only intercourse.(an act
where is penis enters the vagina).According to him,performing any another
kind of sexual activity other than intercourse is highly immoral.Jean Satre
claimed that sexual desire aims to capture the freedom of the other,and
therefore it is morally wrong to engage in sexual activities.A philosopher
went to the extremes of celebrating all kinds of sex,including rape.

Sex raises very fascinating issues.It is deeply rooted in our biology,and

clouded by our intentionality and emotions.Its pleasures and pursuits have
ruined many lives.Men and women tend to exhibit different sexual desires
and they also tend to perceive sex differently.Stereotypically
speaking,women tend to attach high emotional meanings to sex,like
love,care and the feeling of being protected,whereas men view sex greedily
and lustily.Sex has manifested itself in various dimensions such as
rape,prostitution and pornography.All these issues make us study the moral
aspects of sexaul activity,sexual pleasure ,sexual preferences and the
nature of sexual desires.

Judgements over the nature of sexual impulse can determine moral

evaluations of sexual activity.In this realm,philosophy of sex falls into two
groups,one having negative while the other having positive understanding
of sex.Various subjects lie under the domain of this philosophy,such
as-metaphysics of sexuality,Metaphysical sexual optimism or
pessimism,perversion and sexual morality,moral evaluations of sex,natural
law vs ethics and sexual ethics,sexual activity and sexual pleasure.Viewing
modern sexual reality under the realm of a philosophical lens is attempted
by philosophy of sex.

Normative Analysis:
Normative analysis of sex questions about the value of sexual activity and
sexual pleasure in life.It tries to investigate the value which is brought about
sexuality to a person’s virtuous life.It tries to examine the moral obligations
and moral permissions a person has to follow while carrying out any kind of
sexual activities.

Conceptive Analysis:
Conceptual analysis of sex tries to explore the relationship between ‘sexual
activity’ and ‘sexual pleasure’.It tries to look into less abstract concepts of
sex such as rape,pornography and prostitution.It tries to analyze sexual
activity,sexual desire,sexual perversion and sexual morality.

Metaphysical Sexual Pessimism:

Famous philosophers ,St.Augustine,Immanuel Kant,Sigmund
Freud,perceive sexual impulses in very pessimistic lights.According to them
acting on sexual impulses unbefits the dignity of the human being.They
view results of the the sexual drive to be incompatible with more significant
goals of human existence.The power and demands of a sexual impulse are
are seen as a danger to peaceful civilized human life.According to them,in
sexuality ,there is a serious threat to our proper relations with fellow human
beings,and also a threat to our moral treatment of other persons.in sex and
sexuality,there is also a threat to or humanity.

Sexual pessimists claim that in the nature of a sexual desire,there is

objectification of the person involved,before the sexual activity and also
after the sexual activity.According to Kant,sex makes of the person an
object of appetite.This in itself is degradation of the human nature.Bernard
Baumrim points out that sex is a very deceptive and manipulative
process,mentally,emotionally,physically,psychologically and even
intellectually.

For the purpose of sex,great deal of effort is made to look attractive to the
other person and also to conceal or defects.When sex with a person is
desired,the main sources of desire are the person’s lips,thighs,buttocks,and
genitals rather than the desire of the person himself.Says Kant,’Sexuality is
not an inclination for the other person,but an inclination for the sex(genitals)
of the person.’Only sex is the object of the person’s desire.

Further,a sexual act is peculiar in itself with its uncontrollable

arousals,irresistible grindings and unruly poundings.There is a hunger to
master and consume the other person’s body.During a sexual activity,a
person loses control of himself.Regard for humanity of the other person is
also lost.The person who desires depends on the desires of the other
person for the satisfaction of his sexual desires.Thus,he becomes
susceptible to that person’s deceptive mechanisms.A person who can be
made weak by sexual desires can be easily manipulated and exploited.

A person who gives in to the desire of other person makes of himself as

merely a tool for the sexual satisfaction of the other person.Thus by
objectifying himself,the person is contradicting his own right of humanity.
For the sake of sexual pleasure,person’s involved in a sexual activity make
of themselves as objects for the satisfaction of the other.Thus is the
situation,human nature of man is dishonoured by placing it at par with
animal level.Sexual desire is highly powerful.

Thus,it seems that acting on sexual impulses is always morally wrong,even

if it may imply the end of human species.Thus sex conducted only for the
means of procreation is only justified,that too only in the realms of
marriage.Thus seeking sexual pleasure is considered as a morally wrong
act in itself,and should not be undertaken deliberately for its own sake.A
man can turn to good the evil nature of a sexual desire when he controls
the arousal of desires and restrains its rage.Controlling the desire and
never losing the grip on it,unless until intent on generation of an offspring
seems the angelic way view of human sexuality.In St.Paul’s praising,sexual
celibacy is considered as the ideal spiritual state.

Metaphysical Sexual Optimism:

Metaphysical sexual optimists say that sex is not a threat to a peaceful
human civilization but instead it happily joins two people sexually and
emotionally.Sex deepen human relationships and thus lead to strong roots
for foundations of a society.Sex and sexual activities by themselves have
an intrinsic value.Therefore,sex needs to be celebrated and
promoted.Pleasure is a profound psychological need of
man.Therefore,pursuit of sexual pleasure does not need any justification.In
any kind of sexual activity,to say that the people involved are treated as
objects is to degrade the nature of genuine mutual exchange of
pleasure.This exchange creates a varied set of emotions such as
trust,gratitude ,affection and satisfaction which in the end strengthen
human relationships.

Though some sexual relations may be such that people may be used as
objects and thrown aside once their utility runs out.Thus it kind of
represents an appetite of sort,but it definitely differs from hunger and thirst
as it enables us to delight not only in flesh of a person but also in his mind
and character.There is a recognition of mutual gratification of pleasure and
thus there occur high levels of interpersonal sensitivity.

Sexuality by nature of itself is neither good nor bad.Although the channels

used to stimulate sexuality can be evaluated as morally good or morally
bad.

Morally good sexual activity and morally bad sexual activity can be
correspondingly classified as ‘heavenly’ eros and ‘vulgar’ eros.A person
who has ‘vulgar’ eros.A person who has vulgar eros selfishly seeks
pleasure only for himself treating the other person as a mere object for
sexual gratification.In contrast,a person who has ‘heavenly’ eros is
interested in not only the flesh of the other person but also the personality
and well-being of the other person,and is actively interested in providing
sexual pleasure to the other person as well.

‘Animals have sex,where as human beings have eros,and no accurate

science or philosophy is possible without making this distinction.’-writes
Allan Bloom.

Metaphysical sexual pessimists tend to think that unless sexuality is

rigorously governed by constrained internalized societial norms,it would fall
under the realms of vulgar eros,while metaphysical sexual optimists tend to
think that,sexuality by its nature can be very heavenly.

What is function of Sex?What is

romantic Love?
Pleasure is a purely natural and profoundly psychological need of man.The
purpose of pleasure is is to give man a sense of his own efficacy.It gives
man a confirmation of the sense of his control over reality.Just as pain is
the outcome of failure,pleasure is the reward of successful action.Through
the state of pleasure and enjoyment,a sense of the value of life is
achieved.Because of experiencing pleasure ,the worth of struggling in life is
understood.

Pleasures can be of different kind.Pride is one form of pleasure.Pride is a

result of a sense of success achieved in life.It is the outcome of realizations
of over dreams and ambitions.Pride adds another dimension to the sense
of worth of living life.

Another form of pleasure that man takes is in the admiration of other

person.Admiration is the delight that man takes in the mind,character and
achievements of the other person.

Pride and Admiration ,the most intense of the unions of these expressions
is what is romantic love.Sex is the celebration of romantic love.

Thus,I think a man’s romantic-sexual responses reveal psychological

emotions.It offers view of himself and of his existence.A man falls in love
with the person who reflects his own deepest values.A person who does
not love himself finds it difficult to love some other person.Spiritually
speaking,a man of high self esteem feels an intense desire to find a
spiritual equal to love.To such a man,sex is a celebratory act of giving
tribute to himself and his partner whom he has chosen.Sex is thus the
ultimate experience of feeling the joy and value of being alive.The need to
experience such feelings is biologically,evolutionarily and psychologically
inherent in man’s nature.
“Only when you [have sex] . . . are you most cleanly alive and most cleanly
yourself. . . . Sex isn’t just friction and shallow fun. Sex is also the revenge
on death. Don’t forget death. Don’t ever forget it. Yes, sex too is limited in
its power. . . . But tell me, what power is greater?”
—Philip Roth,
The Dying Animal.

Sex,in its more righteous and virtuous sense,when looked upon from the sense of
love,makes us shed all our personal inhibitions and insecurities.It powerfully unites
all our senses into loving our own self and our sense of personal identity through
other person delighting in our mind and body.As rightly emphasized by Philip
roth,we are most cleanly alive and most purely yourself while having
sex.However,we are talking here about sex carried out on the premises of genuine
love and desire and sex carried out in its righteous spiritual sense of unification of
two souls.A person’s self empowering and self-overcoming constant demand of
reaching his desired goals is one of the profound expectations of human
beings.Only by realizing the epicenter of our personal identity ,the realization of a
sexual belonging can be felt.

Biologically speaking,all our actions and endeavours undertaken in life are

implicitly derived from the sense of the need of finding an equal partner in
life.This is a very big claim and it needs to be heavily researched upon.It is
biologically ingrained in our psychological systems to find love and sex with
the one we love.Thus,biologically,the whole purpose in life is the search of
desired sex.This claim can be also evolutionarily justified as no sex would
mean the end of homo -sapiens.Without sex,generations cannot
continue.Thus evolutionarily,life of a human being in very deep statements
revolves around “Sex” and the very basic foundations and implications of it.
Moral Evaluations of Sex:
Deciding the morality of a sexual act can be highly complex.It becomes
very complicated to evaluate the morality of a act based on various
parameters such as consent,purpose of the act and various emotionally
deceptive and psychologically manipulative mechanisms employed.To
classify a sexual activity as moral or immoral requires evaluations of very
diverse philosophical perspectives.There may be various instances when
an act can be judged as immoral in spite of it being seemingly obviously
moral.Because of so many moral issues involved with sex,sex has created
a bad name.Any kind of activity associated with sex raises confusing moral
questions.To speak on a broader level,in today’s modern century,following
Nagel’s philosophy is I think the more mature and evolved moral
judgement.In light of Aquina’s natural law,various sexual activities such as
homosexual sex are considered unnatural and immoral.

Casual sex in on the rising trend in modern world.However due to various

reasons,which are centrally related to violating Aquinas natural law,casual
sex is looked down upon.Following Nagel’s philosophy,it becomes obvious
that encounters where mutual sexual desire is willingly recognized and
consent is present from each person,have no reason to be blamed as
morally wrong.However,the philosophical understanding of our concept of
consent may yield confusing outcomes.

Aquinas Natural Law:

Aquinas natural law allows sexual activities that carried out only for the
purpose of procreation.God has designed each parts of human body to
carry out specific functions.And according to Aquinas law,inserting the
man’s penis inside the women’s vagina is the only morally permissible
sexual act set by natural design of God.Carrying out sexual activity that
violates God’s natural design is unnatural and hence immoral for the same
reason.Therefore,according to him,homo-sexual acts are immoral.Even
hetero-sexual acts of performing fellatio are immoral according to this
philosophy.

Nagel’s Philosophy:
Nagel proposes that sexual activity in which there is mutual recognition of
desire between two partners is natural to human sexuality.In such
encounters,each person responds with sexual excitation to noticing the
sexual arousal of the other person.The scenario can be described as-

I am aroused by you,you are also aroused by me.My arousal is heightened

by fact that you are aroused by my arousal and similarly you are also
aroused by knowing of my arousal.Sexual encounters in which such mutual
recognition of arousal is absent can be called as perverted and therefore
performing them is morally wrong.Perversion thus is a high departure from
the psychologically complete pattern and consciousness.Thus rape is a
highly perverted act.Peodiphilic sexual activity is also perverted,as one of
the person hasn’t developed enough sexual maturity to recognize sexual
arousal.Homosexual relationships and homosexual activities cannot be
classified as perverted as here also high levels of flow of sexual desire can
be recognized.

Is Consent sufficient?
Traditional laws deny that consent is sufficient.Reducing the moral
significance of consent is a illusioned issue.Sexual activity between two
persons might be harmful to one or both the persons. Mere consent in
these cases of casual sex is insufficient as we don’t have a right to harm
the other person.We even do not have the right to harm our own body.
In casual sex,the free and informed consent of both the persons may be a
necessary and sufficient condition for the morality of their sexual
activity.However,adulterous sexual activity is also more on the side of being
morally wrong.Mutual use and objectification of ourselves is morally
permissible only within the realms of love,devotion and care.In casual
sex,two people are merely using each other for their own sexual
pleasure.Even when this is genuinely consensual,carrying out such an act
is not virtuous.We are not allowed to make an object of ourselves and our
bodies by willingly allowing ourselves to be used sexually.Only when two
people are in love,the surrendering of bodies and souls to each other is
highly virtuous as a state of metaphysical unity is reached.

“Only love can acknowledge the use of one person by the other”
Unifying love justifies sexual activity.

Sex is the unification of persons resulting from a mutual gift of their selves owing to
the recognized love for each other.