The Sex Appeal of the Inorganic: Philosophies of Desire in the Modern World

by Mario Perniola

We live in a world where the one-time opposition between things and humans has been transformed, where the center of contemporary sensibility is the encounter between philosophy and sexuality, where sex extends well beyond both the act and the body. We live in a world where to be sexy is to ignore the distinctions between animate and inanimate objects of desire, where the aesthetics of sex are being revolutionized. An organic sexuality, based on sex difference and driven by desire and pleasure, is being replaced by a neutral, inorganic and artificial sexuality, a sexuality always available but indifferent to beauty, age or form, a sexuality freed by thought from nature. The Sex Appeal of the Inorganic takes the reader on a radical, new tour of Western philosophy-from Descartes, Kant and Hegel to Heidegger, Wittgenstein and Sartre-to reframe our understanding of personal experience and the aesthetic, to examine how, if we are to remember how to feel, we must become a thing who feels, we must think ourselves closer to the inorganic world and move further from our bodies.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Jernej · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that is definitely worth a read. It offers a new fresh perspective on many matters and engages the reader to continue thinking further or rethink old ideas from a new angle.

[efenibot · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not entirely unhinged, but written in an intense manner. Interesting points, and an interesting view.

[Patrick Diego · Rating 3 out of 5]

achei meio piroca das ideia

[Ivana Melgoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

hot ❤️‍🔥

[Ryan Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago, but I think I was excited by the academic take on post-human bodily experience, the neutralization of sexual dynamics, and the aestheticizing of everyone and everything as a field of desiring objects. Poetic and interesting.

[Lennart Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like his ideas but he uses way too many different examples, also the huge amount of different philosophical concepts is very confusing if you’re not used to that kind of literature.