Filsafat seks kontemporer terkadang dipengaruhi oleh feminisme Barat. Isu-isu yang diangkat oleh kaum feminis mengenai perbedaan gender, politik seksual, dan hakikat identitas seksual merupakan pertanyaan penting dalam filsafat seks.
Adakah karakteristik esensial yang membuat suatu tindakan bersifat seksual?
Apakah sebagian tindakan seksual itu baik dan sebagian lainnya buruk? Berdasarkan kriteria apa? Secara alternatif, bisakah tindakan seksual suka sama suka bersifat amoral, ataukah tindakan tersebut berada di luar ranah etika?
Apa hubungan antara seks dan reproduksi biologis? Bisakah satu hal eksis tanpa yang lain?
Apakah identitas seksual berakar pada perbedaan ontologis yang mendasar (seperti biologi)?
Apakah seksualitas merupakan fungsi dari gender atau jenis kelamin biologis?
Sejarah filsafat seks
Sepanjang sebagian besar sejarah filsafat Barat, pertanyaan tentang seks dan seksualitas hanya ditinjau dalam kerangka umum etika. Namun, terdapat penyimpangan dari pola ini yang memunculkan tradisi diskursus mengenai masalah seksual sebagai topik yang berdiri sendiri.
Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love (Masyarakat untuk Filsafat Seks dan Cinta) adalah kelompok profesional dalam keanggotaan Asosiasi Filsafat Amerika.
Hasrat seksual
Evaluasi moral terhadap aktivitas seksual ditentukan oleh penilaian terhadap hakikat dorongan seksual. Dalam pandangan ini, filsafat terbagi menjadi dua kubu:[1]
Pemahaman negatif tentang seksualitas, seperti yang dikemukakan oleh Immanuel Kant, meyakini bahwa seksualitas mendegradasi nilai-nilai, dan menggugat perlakuan moral kita terhadap orang lain.
Seks, kata Kant, "menjadikan orang yang dicintai sebagai Objek nafsu".[2] Dalam pemahaman ini, seks sering kali disarankan hanya untuk tujuan prokreasi. Terkadang selibat seksual dianggap mengarah pada kehidupan terbaik, atau yang paling bermoral.[3]
Pemahaman positif tentang seksualitas – seperti yang dikemukakan oleh Russell Vannoy, Irving Singer, serta Bertrand Russell dalam karyanya Perkawinan dan Moral – memandang aktivitas seksual sebagai sesuatu yang menyenangkan diri sendiri dan orang lain pada saat yang sama.
Thomas Nagel mengusulkan bahwa hanya interaksi seksual dengan gairah seksual timbal balik yang alami bagi seksualitas manusia. Pertemuan atau peristiwa seksual yang menyimpang adalah kondisi di mana gairah timbal balik ini absen, dan di mana seseorang tetap sepenuhnya menjadi subjek pengalaman seksual atau sepenuhnya menjadi objek.[4]
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Mayo, David. "An Obligation to Warn of HIV Infection?" in Alan Soble, ed., Sex, Love and Friendship. Amsterdam. Hol.: Editions Rodopi, 1997, pp.447–53.
McEvoy, Adrianne Leigh, Ed. Sex, Love, and Friendship. Studies of the Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love: 1993–2003. Amsterdam/New York, NY, Rodopi, 2011.
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Soble, Alan. "Antioch's 'Sexual Offense Policy': A Philosophical Exploration," Journal of Social Philosophy 28:1 (1997), pp.22–36.
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Soble, Alan, ed. The Philosophy of Sex, 4th edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002; revised 5th edition, 2008 (excellent bibliography covering the whole area phil sex).