Lust declared virtue, not vice

BBC ^ | 1/11/04 | BBC

[rpage3]

Lust has been wrongly branded a vice and should be "reclaimed for humanity" as a life-affirming virtue, according to a top philsopher.

Professor Simon Blackburn of Cambridge University is trying to "rescue" lust, arguing it has been wrongly condemned for centuries, the Sunday Times says.

His campaign is part of an Oxford University Press project on the modern relevance of the seven deadly sins.

The list of sins was drawn up by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th Century.

OUP has commissioned books on each of the sins - lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth, pride and greed.

Controlling lust

It says Prof Blackburn is aiming to save lust "from the denunciations of old men of the deserts, to deliver it from the pallid and envious confessor and the stocks and pillories of the Puritans, to drag it from the category of sin to that of virtue".

According to the Sunday Times, Prof Blackburn has defined lust as "the enthusiastic desire for sexual activity and its pleasures for its own sake".

The philosopher says that if reciprocated, lust leads to pleasure and "best flourishes when unencumbered by bad philosophy and ideology... which prevent its freedom of flow".

He points out that thirst is not criticised although it can lead to drunkenness and in the same way lust should not be condemned just because it can get out of hand, the paper says.

Professor Blackburn is quoted as saying: "The important thing is that generally anything that gives pleasure has a presumption in its favour.

"The question is how we control it."

[rpage3]

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[ConsistentLibertarian]

Cool!

I guess that makes me a saint ;-)

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Professor, some men will shoot you if you try to follow your urge to lust after their wives. Others will let you have your way with them so long as you take them off their hands for good. I don't think you have thought this through.

[steplock]

...E. Both Capitalism and Judaeo-Christian culture must be destroyed before a Communist revolution can succeed

......1. Religious sentiment cannot be destroyed through legislation, as Lenin believed, but must be redirected from the divine to the state

.........c. So Religion must be destroyed in the minds of men

Antonio Gramsci, 1891-1937

http://www.gohotsprings.com/focus/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=434

[Leroy S. Mort]

According to the Sunday Times, Prof Blackburn has defined lust as "the enthusiastic desire for sexual activity and its pleasures for its own sake".

Others' wives aren't mentioned explicitly.

[yoe]

This lets ex-president Carter off the hook?

[martin_fierro]

If they okay greed, avarice, gluttony, fear, pride and sloth, I'm golden.

[PatrickHenry]

Ping.

[Billthedrill]

I'm still working on sloth. I just don't have the energy to try the others.

[Eala]

I envy you.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Professor Blackburn

[mikegi]

The philosopher says that if reciprocated, lust leads to pleasure and "best flourishes when unencumbered by bad philosophy and ideology... which prevent its freedom of flow".

Translation: "I'm looking to score with the hot chick in the mini-skirt in the first row. Thank God for stadium seating!"

[07055]

Insert Bill Clinton joke here....

[Paul Atreides]

Insert Bill Clinton joke here....

That's what is printed inside Monica's mouth.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[tiamat]

At least you are not wrathful!

:-)

Tia

[BlazingArizona]

lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth, pride and greed. The Seven Deadly Sins are sins only when indulged in out of context. For each, there is a context that changes it from a sin to a noble quality:

Anger - The will to change intolerable conditions;
Lust - Marriage
Pride, Envy - Self-improvement;
Gluttony - Providing for the future to ensure that you never go hungry;
Sloth - Inventing your way of the need for work you don't like;
Greed - The free market.

[Snuffington]

The philosopher says that if reciprocated, lust leads to pleasure and "best flourishes when unencumbered by bad philosophy and ideology... which prevent its freedom of flow".

He makes "freedom of flow" sound pretty disgusting. I think I'll stick with ol' Gregory the Great on this one.

[squidly]

Well...... it does help to perpetuate the species, I'll say that for it.