Sex and Death: A Reappraisal of Human MortalityISBN: 978-0-7456-2278-1
Hardcover
168 pages
November 2002, Polity
Other Available Formats: Paperback
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For centuries people have debated the nature of the human self.
Running beneath these various arguments lie three certainties
– we are born, reproduce sexually, and die. The models of
spirituality which dominate the Western tradition have claimed that
it is possible to transcend these aspects of human physicality by
ascribing to human beings alternative traits, such as
consciousness, mind and reason. By locating the essence of human
life outside its basic physical features, mortality itself has come
to be viewed as a problem, for it appears to render human life both
meaningless and absurd. Complex connections have then been made
between the key features of life: sex is linked with death, and
birth becomes the event that introduces the child to the world of
decay – and ultimately to death itself.
This fascinating book exposes the way in which the preoccupation with transcendence in both religious and secular thinking has distorted our sense of what it is to be human. At the same time, Sex and Death offers an alternative approach to the debate, based on an acceptance of mortality that emphasizes the depth and profundity possible in human life. It is an argument which will be essential reading for students of philosophy or religion, as well as the general reader interested in these debates.