Promiscuity, pedophilia, rape, and the significance of the sexual
Promiscuity, pedophilia, rape, and the significance of the sexual
This paper uses a dilemma presented by David Benatar to explore the challenges that ‘Sexual Liberals’ face in giving a satisfactory account of sexual ethics. A satisfactory account of sexual ethics must be able to fully explain the wrongness of sexual assault without implying that sexual activity should be restricted to those in love. The assumption that this is impossible may be due to mistakes in our thinking about sexual assault. However, even when such mistakes are resolved, producing a satisfactory account of sexual ethics requires Sexual Liberals to confront the significance of the sexual in human life. I describe an account of sexual desire that may be able to explain the significance of the sexual in human life without forcing us to endorse a restrictive sexual ethics.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26910023
Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
April 2019
Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
Woollard, Fiona
(2019)
Promiscuity, pedophilia, rape, and the significance of the sexual.
Public Affairs Quarterly.
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/26910023).
Abstract
This paper uses a dilemma presented by David Benatar to explore the challenges that ‘Sexual Liberals’ face in giving a satisfactory account of sexual ethics. A satisfactory account of sexual ethics must be able to fully explain the wrongness of sexual assault without implying that sexual activity should be restricted to those in love. The assumption that this is impossible may be due to mistakes in our thinking about sexual assault. However, even when such mistakes are resolved, producing a satisfactory account of sexual ethics requires Sexual Liberals to confront the significance of the sexual in human life. I describe an account of sexual desire that may be able to explain the significance of the sexual in human life without forcing us to endorse a restrictive sexual ethics.
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FinalPaperSignificanceofSexual
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 November 2018
Published date: April 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 427072
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/427072
DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26910023
ISSN: 2152-0542
PURE UUID: dad6bb33-40b0-4383-8892-935cf790cbca
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Date deposited: 21 Dec 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:26
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