James Giles

James Giles is a philosopher and psychologist. He is adjunct professor of psychology at Roskilde University and part-time lecturer in the University of Cambridge Institute for Continuing Education. Dr Giles has taught at several universities in different countries. His writings on philosophical psychology, metaphysics, and human relationships, are widely discussed. He is best known for his version of the no-self theory of personal identity, the vulnerability and care theory of love, and the theory of sexual desire as an existential need. Related to this is his 'naked love theory' of human hairlessness. This theory locates the evolutionary origin of naked skin in the ancestral mother's pleasure in skin-to-skin contact with the infant. Naked skin, Giles argues, was one of the preconditions for the appearance of romantic love. Giles' works are typically interdisciplinary and intercultural, drawing such areas as philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and biology, while exploring their expression in different cultures. Only through such an approach, argues Giles, can we hope to understand the human condition.

See Giles' TEDx talk on love: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Love-Vulnerability-and-Care-Jam

Hear Giles' Podcast on human evolution: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/marketing/assets/podcasts/2011/110708-james-giles.mp3