Abstract
The question is: Why does the beauty of beautiful things1 arouse sexual feelings in us? Not desire - always - but at least sexual feelings? I listen to a gorgeously sensuous passage in a Vivaldi violin concerto, am caught by it, savour it; and soon the surface of my tongue is tingling, and the feeling passes down my body to my nipples and then my groin. There is no desire here — What could desire aim for? — but there is no doubt about the sexual feeling.
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© 1979 D. Reidel Publishing Company
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Sircello, G. (1979). Beauty and Sex. In: Gustafson, D.F., Tapscott, B.L. (eds) Body, Mind, and Method. Synthese Library, vol 138. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9479-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9479-9_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-9481-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-9479-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive