Animal Desire and Rational Nature: Kant’s Argument for Marriage and the Problem of ‘Unnatural’ Sex
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Martin Brecher
Abstract
While many interpreters endorse both Kant’s worry about objectifying tendencies in human sexuality and his argument that legal marriage can avert sexual objectification, they at the same time reject Kant’s notorious and spurious claim that sexual acts are moral only if in line with the ‘natural end’ of procreation, while ‘unnatural’ sex would violate our humanity. However, from an exegetical point of view, such a divisional approach is unconvincing. I shall argue that, for Kant, both the problem of sexual objectification and the (as Kant sees it) problem of ‘unnatural’ sex stem from a single root: the specific character of sexual desire and action. Kant’s views about the moral problems of sex result from his anthropological theory of sexuality as part of our ‘animality’, and they cannot be partitioned as easily. Consequently, proponents of Kantian arguments for same-sex marriage need to undertake more radical revisions of Kant’s theory of sexuality.
Abstract
While many interpreters endorse both Kant’s worry about objectifying tendencies in human sexuality and his argument that legal marriage can avert sexual objectification, they at the same time reject Kant’s notorious and spurious claim that sexual acts are moral only if in line with the ‘natural end’ of procreation, while ‘unnatural’ sex would violate our humanity. However, from an exegetical point of view, such a divisional approach is unconvincing. I shall argue that, for Kant, both the problem of sexual objectification and the (as Kant sees it) problem of ‘unnatural’ sex stem from a single root: the specific character of sexual desire and action. Kant’s views about the moral problems of sex result from his anthropological theory of sexuality as part of our ‘animality’, and they cannot be partitioned as easily. Consequently, proponents of Kantian arguments for same-sex marriage need to undertake more radical revisions of Kant’s theory of sexuality.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
- What’s So Special About Legalized Sex? (Or, How Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?) 17
- Animal Desire and Rational Nature: Kant’s Argument for Marriage and the Problem of ‘Unnatural’ Sex 35
- How to Have Good Kantian Sex 63
- Kant and Austen on Free Love 85
- Kant on Menschenliebe as a Moral Predisposition of the Mind 107
- From Self-Preservation to Cosmopolitan Friendship: Kant and the Conceptual Structure of Love 127
- Kant on Friendship and Misanthropy 149
- Friendship as a Scaffolding Duty to the Highest Good 165
- Index of Persons 187
- Index of Subjects 189
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
- What’s So Special About Legalized Sex? (Or, How Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?) 17
- Animal Desire and Rational Nature: Kant’s Argument for Marriage and the Problem of ‘Unnatural’ Sex 35
- How to Have Good Kantian Sex 63
- Kant and Austen on Free Love 85
- Kant on Menschenliebe as a Moral Predisposition of the Mind 107
- From Self-Preservation to Cosmopolitan Friendship: Kant and the Conceptual Structure of Love 127
- Kant on Friendship and Misanthropy 149
- Friendship as a Scaffolding Duty to the Highest Good 165
- Index of Persons 187
- Index of Subjects 189
