Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age: Is There Still a Virtue of Chastity?

265 Pages·2021·5.613 MB·English

by  Eric J. Silverman

Chastity is a virtue easily misunderstood. To a secular ear it sounds out-
dated, old-fashioned, and paternalistic. This collection of essays offers
a fresh and valuable perspective on the virtue of chastity in a secular
age. The contributors provide insightful positions on the strengths and
weaknesses of chastity while elucidating its role as a guiding virtue for
sexual activity.
—Audra Goodnight, Villanova University, USA

Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age
This collection features essays from top experts in ethics and philosophy
of love that offer varying perspectives on the value of a contemporary
secular virtue of chastity.
The virtue of chastity has traditionally been portrayed as an excellent
personal disposition concerning the ideal ordering of sexual desire such
that the person desires that which is actually good for both the self and
others affected by his or her sexual desires and actions. Yet, for roughly
the past half century chastity has been increasingly portrayed as an un-
necessary ideal with few secular benefts that could not be otherwise
obtained. Instead, chastity is sometimes portrayed as an odd kind of
religious asceticism with few secular benefts. The essays in this volume
ask whether there may be advantages to reconsidering a contemporary
virtue of chastity. A recovered and reconceptualized concept of chastity
can offer partial solutions to problems associated with externalized sex-
ual desire, including sweeping patterns of sexual harassment, the high
divorce/relationship-failure rate, and widespread pornography use.
Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age will appeal to researchers and advanced
students interested in the philosophy of sex and love, virtue ethics, and
philosophical accounts of secularity.
Eric J. Silverman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Christopher
Newport University. He has written two monographs: The Supremacy
of Love: An Agape Centered Vision of Aristotelian Virtue Ethics (2019)
and The Prudence of Love: How Possessing the Virtue of Love Benefts
the Agent (2010). He has also co-edited Paradise Understood: New Phil-
osophical Essays about Heaven (2017).
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Bob Fischer
Self-Defense, Necessity, and Punishment
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Uwe Steinhoff
Ethics and Error in Medicine
Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Sandra L. Borden
Care Ethics and the Refugee Crisis
Emotions, Contestations, and Agency
Marcia Morgan
Corporate Responsibility and Political Philosophy
Exploring the Social Liberal Corporation
Kristian Høyer Toft
The Ethics of War and the Force of Law
A Modern Just War Theory
Uwe Steinhoff
Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age
Is There Still a Virtue of Chastity?
Edited by Eric J. Silverman
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-in-Applied-Ethics/book-series/RRAES
Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age
Is There Still a Virtue of Chastity?
Edited by
Eric J. Silverman
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Eric J. Silverman
The right of Eric J. Silverman to be identified as the author of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-52267-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-52277-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05730-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
To all who have taught us to love reason more than
pleasure:
Aristotle, Diotima, the Stoics, Confucius, and the rest

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xix
PART I
Visions of Contemporary Chastity 1
1 Chastity and the Well-Lived Life 3
JENNIFER A. HERDT
2 Sexuality as Secularly Sacred 19
ALEXANDER R. PRUSS
3 Contemporary Chastity Still Consists in Principles of
Temperance, Justice, and Prudence 37
ERIC J. SILVERMAN
4 Chastity, Lust, and Practical Wisdom 51
MICHAEL BEATY
PART II
The Limits and Dangers of Chastity 65
5 Is Chastity a Virtue? 67
ALAN H. GOLDMAN
6 Chastity, Power Dynamics, and Enduring Spousal Love 78
R. MARY HAYDEN LEMMONS