The Philosophy of Viagra : Bioethical Responses to the Viagrification of the Modern World

ISBN 10: 9042033363 / ISBN 13: 9789042033368

Published by BRILL, 2011

Used book that is in almost brand-new condition. May contain a remainder mark. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 58267057-75

Synopsis:

The impotency remedy Viagra is the fastest selling drug in history. It has grown beyond being simply a medical phenomenon, but has achieved the status of cultural icon, appearing on television as a pretext for jokes or even as a murder weapon. Viagra has socio-cultural implications that are not limited to sexuality. The Philosophy of Viagra offers a unique perspective as it examines the phenomenon of Viagra through ideas derived from more than two thousand years of philosophical reasoning. In philosophy, Eros has always had a central position. Since Plato, philosophy has held that desire is not only a medical but also a spiritual phenomenon and that scientific explanations claiming to give an exhaustive account of erotic perception are misleading. Philosophical ideas are able to debunk various scientific rationalizations of sexuality - one of which is the clinical-sexological discourse on Viagra. In this volume, several authors interpret Viagra through the lens of classical philosophy explicating the themes of immortality and hedonism. Others offer psychoanalytical considerations by confronting clinical sexology with psychological realities. Still others evoke intercultural aspects revealing the relative character of potency that the phenomenon of Viagra attempts to gloss over.

Review: The surprise is that Rodopi, a fine Dutch scholarly press whose books often cost more than a fistful of the little blue pills, beat the usual publishing impresarios to the agora. The Philosophy of Viagra appears not in the kind of Philosophy and Popular Culture series that usually offers such a volume but in Rodopi s Philosophy of Sex and Love line, part of its general Value Inquiry Book Series. That may account for the high seriousness of many of its essays, free of the arch joking that assistant professors increasingly toss into their pop-culture excursions. in: The Chronicle of Higher Education
it helped me understand how humanities professors have an important place in sexuality studies and taught me never to forget there are always multiple meanings, contexts, and ways of looking at sexual topics. Leonore Tiefer PhD, in: Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 38:2, 218-219"

"The surprise is that Rodopi, a fine Dutch scholarly press whose books often cost more than a fistful of the little blue pills, beat the usual publishing impresarios to the agora. The Philosophy of Viagra appears not in the kind of "Philosophy and Popular Culture" series that usually offers such a volume but in Rodopi's "Philosophy of Sex and Love" line, part of its general "Value Inquiry Book Series." That may account for the high seriousness of many of its essays, free of the arch joking that assistant professors increasingly toss into their pop-culture excursions." - in: The Chronicle of Higher Education ..".it helped me understand how humanities professors have an important place in sexuality studies and taught me never to forget there are always multiple meanings, contexts, and ways of looking at sexual topics." - Leonore Tiefer, PhD, in: Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 38/2, pp. 218-219

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Philosophy of Viagra : Bioethical ...
Publisher: BRILL
Publication Date: 2011
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Fine