Category: Aporia

  • Aporia: Sex Work

    by Jason Stotts Aporia (ἀπορɛία): an impasse, puzzlement, doubt, or confusion; a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it. I’m working on revising chapters from Volume 2 to get it ready for publication and one helpful criticism I got on an early version of my chapter on…

  • Aporia: Erotic Character and Sexual Virtues

    by Jason Stotts Aporia (ἀπορɛία): an impasse, puzzlement, doubt, or confusion; a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it. When thinking about the details of what it would mean to live a good sexual life, a thought occurred to me: shouldn’t there be something like an “erotic…

  • Aporia: Dispositions

    by Jason Stotts Aporia (ἀπορɛία): an impasse, puzzlement, doubt, or confusion; a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it. In this Aporia, I want to inquire into the nature of dispositions. While this outline is undoubtedly not of general interest, it will be of interest to some…

  • Aporia: Pleasure

    by Jason Stotts Aporia (ἀπορɛία): an impasse, puzzlement, doubt, or confusion; a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it. In this Aporia, I want to inquire into the nature of pleasure. In Eros and Ethos, I made the claim that: Now, I want to explicitly make the…

  • Aporia: Sexual Orientation

    by Jason Stotts Aporia (Ancient Greek: ἀπορɛία: impasse; lack of resources; puzzlement; doubt; confusion) In philosophy, a philosophical puzzle or state of puzzlement;  In rhetoric, a rhetorically useful expression of doubt. Sexual orientation is a confusing subject.  So confusing that some people have taken to the idea that your sexual orientation is whatever you want it to be, that whatever you self-identify as…

  • Aporia: Sexual Identity

    by Jason Stotts What is sexual identity?  Is it simply being gay or straight?  Is it all possible facts about our sexuality?  Is it how we structure our relationships and love as well?  Does my sexual identity include facts about whether I’m monogamous or practice polyamory?  Should it include whether a person has sexual integrity? …

  • Aporia: Is Physical Beauty Itself a Value?

    by Jason Stotts I often get asked, because I advocate that sexual attraction is a response to values, whether physical beauty is a value.  The intention of the question is, of course, to see if I think that physical beauty is a sufficient value to justify sexual activity.  I’ve always thought this was an interesting…