Luke Brunning

Natasha McKeever

Intimacy can be joyous, but also confusing and socially constrained. This book reveals how philosophy can deepen our understanding of how we date, fall in love, have sex, and form relationships. Brunning and McKeever explore some of today’s significant questions around love and relationships, with a focus on underexplored topics and contemporary research. Should we stop talking in terms of sexual orientations? What are the responsibilities of dating app companies? Could flirting be a virtue? Might a drug produce authentic love? Must we take responsibility for who we find attractive? When is consensual sex bad? Should governments ban sex robots? Is relationship anarchy the future of intimacy? Engagingly written, and rich with real-world examples, The Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Relationships is a crucial resource for students, researchers, and anyone who wants to join the growing conversation around the philosophy of intimacy.

The Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Relationships

Raja Halwani

Alan Soble

Jacob M. Held

With twenty-five essays, seven of which are new to the eighth edition, this best-selling volume examines the nature, morality, and social meanings of contemporary sexual phenomena. Topics include: sexual desire and activity, masturbation, Sexual orientation, asexuality, transgender issues, Zoophilia, rape, casual sex and promiscuity, love and sex, polyamory, sexual consent, sexual, perversion, sexual ethics, objectification, BDSM, sex and technology, sex and race, and sex work. Updated and new discussion questions offer students starting points for debate in both the classroom and the bedroom.

Contemporary Readings

The Philosophy of Sex

With 7 new essays, the 8th edition of this best-selling text examines the nature, morality, and significance of contemporary sexual phenomena. Topics include love; desire; rape; masturbation; sex online; homosexual, asexual, queer, and transgender issues; polyamory; paraphilia; drugs and sex; objectification; BDSM; and sex and race.

Joe Saunders

André Grahle

This volume features original essays on the philosophy of love. The essays are organized thematically around the past, present, and future of philosophical thinking about love. In Part I, the contributors explore what we can learn from the history of philosophical thinking about love. The chapters cover Ancient Greek thinkers, namely Plato and Aristotle, as well as Kierkegaard’s critique of preferential love and Erich Fromm’s mystic interpretation of sexual relations. Part II covers current conceptions and practices of love. These chapters explore how love changes over time, the process of falling in love, the erotic dimension of romantic love, and a new interpretation of grand-parental love. Finally, Part III looks at the future of love. These chapters address technological developments related to love, such as algorithm-driven dating apps and robotic companions, as well as the potential of polyamory as a future romantic ideal. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in moral philosophy and social and political philosophy who are working on issues related to the philosophy of love.

Natasha McKeever

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