Writing for non-specialists and students as well as for fellow philosophers, this book explores some basic issues surrounding sex and love in today's world, among them consent, objectification, non-monogamy, racial stereotyping, and the need to reconcile contemporary expectations about gender equality with our beliefs about how love works. Author Patricia Marino argues that we cannot fully understand these issues by focusing only on individual desires and choices. Instead, we need to examine the social contexts within which choices are made and acquire their meanings. That perspective, she argues, is especially needed today, when the values of individualism, self-expression, and self-interest permeate our lives. Marino asks how we can fit these values, which govern so many areas of contemporary life, with the generosity, caring, and selflessness we expect in love and sex.

Key Features of Philosophy of Sex and Love: An Opinionated Introduction

• Offers a contemporary, problems-based approach to the subject, helping readers better understand and address current issues and controversial questions
• Includes coverage of sex and love as they intersect with topics like disability, race, medicine, and economics
• Considers not only the ethical, but also the broadly social and political dimensions of sex and love
• Includes a helpful introduction and conclusion in each chapter and is written throughout in a clear and straightforward style, with examples and signposts to help guide the student and general reader
• A comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography provides a valuable tool for anyone's further research

About the Author

Patricia Marino is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where, in addition to philosophy of sex and love, she works in ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of economics. She served as co-president of the Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love from 2008 to 2018, and is the author of Moral Reasoning in a Pluralistic World (2015).

Reviews

"[This] is an exceptional book for any instructor who is looking for a rare, 'opinionated' introductory text in the philosophy of sex and love that is not an anthology.

What is particularly valuable about this book is that it doesn't merely talk about thinkers who do philosophy, but shows firsthand (and importantly, in a fairly accessible way that most conventional textbooks may not) how to do philosophy. If that is the level of engagement an instructor seeks, I can think of no better textual guide to the philosophy of sex and love than this book."
Dale Murray (University of Wisconsin-Platteville) in Teaching Philosophy

"Patricia Marino's Philosophy of Love and Sex: An Opinionated Introduction is a wonderful addition to the growing literature - and indeed growing number of textbooks - in this area of philosophy, which is still only a few decades old."
Robert Scott Stewart, Ph.D., Metapsychology Online Review

Book Information
ISBN 9781138391000
Author Patricia Marino
Format Paperback
Page Count 238
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 380g