Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.
The Nature of Sexual Desire
Although there has been much discussion about things like the causes, loss, and maintenance of sexual desire, there has been little research into the nature of sexual desire itself. Consequently, most of the discussions on these topics have gone on without any clear idea about what it is that is being discussed. Readers will be interested that at last there is a full-length book that attempts to say what sexual desire is. Further, this book takes an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach, drawing on a wide range of texts and research. Drawing on such diverse sources as psychology, philosophy, and biology, a thorough discussion of sexual desire is presented. Also presented are new accounts of the sexual process, gender, romantic love, and love's relation to sexual desire.
1117991435
The Nature of Sexual Desire
Although there has been much discussion about things like the causes, loss, and maintenance of sexual desire, there has been little research into the nature of sexual desire itself. Consequently, most of the discussions on these topics have gone on without any clear idea about what it is that is being discussed. Readers will be interested that at last there is a full-length book that attempts to say what sexual desire is. Further, this book takes an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach, drawing on a wide range of texts and research. Drawing on such diverse sources as psychology, philosophy, and biology, a thorough discussion of sexual desire is presented. Also presented are new accounts of the sexual process, gender, romantic love, and love's relation to sexual desire.
Although there has been much discussion about things like the causes, loss, and maintenance of sexual desire, there has been little research into the nature of sexual desire itself. Consequently, most of the discussions on these topics have gone on without any clear idea about what it is that is being discussed. Readers will be interested that at last there is a full-length book that attempts to say what sexual desire is. Further, this book takes an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach, drawing on a wide range of texts and research. Drawing on such diverse sources as psychology, philosophy, and biology, a thorough discussion of sexual desire is presented. Also presented are new accounts of the sexual process, gender, romantic love, and love's relation to sexual desire.
James Giles was born in Vancouver, Canada and received his Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guam and Tutor at Madingley Hall, University of Cambridge. Among his writings is No Self to be Found: The Search for Personal Identity.
Table of Contents
Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 The Problem of Sexual Desire Chapter 3 The Sexual Process Chapter 4 The Object of Sexual Desire Chapter 5 The Experience of Gender Chapter 6 The Structure of Being in Love Chapter 7 Epilogue: Sexual Desire as an Existential Need Part 8 References Part 9 Index
What People are Saying About This
John Llewelyn
The receptive awareness that belongs to the nature of sexual desire according to James Giles belongs also to his phenomenological descriptions of that desire. Responsive both to what the founder of phenomenology calls the things themselves and to the extensive archive of scholarship on the subject, this book treats of the exquisite experience it studies so faithfully in a prose so elegant and direct that it has the makings of a classic destined to seduce generations of specialist and non-specialist readers.
Elaine Hatfield
A delightful examination of the way in which cross-cultural theorists, philosophers, and psychologists have viewed the nature of sexual desire. Although James Giles is not afraid to tackle difficult theoretical questions, his discussions are lightened by a sprinkling of charming quotes and genuine insights into human sexuality, gender, and the experience of love.
Sanford Lopater
This readable and well-conceived book represents a lucid, synoptic assessment of a key and central feature of our humanity. Its approach is both comprehensive and systematic. It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in the social and behavioral sciences as well as philosophy, women's studies, and anthropology. The reader will find here a rich and creative synthesis of both intrapsychic and interpersonal aspects of sexual attraction, arousal, and response. A thoughtful selection of primary literature and important critical analysis of the methodology of human sexuality research enhance an explicitly humanistic agenda.
Hale Sinclare
This thoroughly frank and ground-breaking work belongs in the libraries and workshops of all sex educators, therapists and church leaders—all who, in truth, may wish to raise the quality of human care and intimacy and, indeed, the spiritual consummation of sexual desire—that peak moment 'that equals all of time'—which I hope we all will discover in our lives.
