Nothing Natural Is Shameful

Sodomy and Science in Late Medieval Europe

Nonfiction, History, Medieval
Cover of the book Nothing Natural Is Shameful by Joan Cadden, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joan Cadden ISBN: 9780812208580
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: September 17, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Joan Cadden
ISBN: 9780812208580
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: September 17, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

In his Problemata, Aristotle provided medieval thinkers with the occasion to inquire into the natural causes of the sexual desires of men to act upon or be acted upon by other men, thus bringing human sexuality into the purview of natural philosophers, whose aim it was to explain the causes of objects and events in nature. With this philosophical justification, some late medieval intellectuals asked whether such dispositions might arise from anatomy or from the psychological processes of habit formation. As the fourteenth-century philosopher Walter Burley observed, "Nothing natural is shameful." The authors, scribes, and readers willing to "contemplate base things" never argued that they were not vile, but most did share the conviction that they could be explained.

From the evidence that has survived in manuscripts of and related to the Problemata, two narratives emerge: a chronicle of the earnest attempts of medieval medical theorists and natural philosophers to understand the cause of homosexual desires and pleasures in terms of natural processes, and an ongoing debate as to whether the sciences were equipped or permitted to deal with such subjects at all. Mining hundreds of texts and deciphering commentaries, indices, abbreviations, and marginalia, Joan Cadden shows how European scholars deployed a standard set of philosophical tools and a variety of rhetorical strategies to produce scientific approaches to sodomy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In his Problemata, Aristotle provided medieval thinkers with the occasion to inquire into the natural causes of the sexual desires of men to act upon or be acted upon by other men, thus bringing human sexuality into the purview of natural philosophers, whose aim it was to explain the causes of objects and events in nature. With this philosophical justification, some late medieval intellectuals asked whether such dispositions might arise from anatomy or from the psychological processes of habit formation. As the fourteenth-century philosopher Walter Burley observed, "Nothing natural is shameful." The authors, scribes, and readers willing to "contemplate base things" never argued that they were not vile, but most did share the conviction that they could be explained.

From the evidence that has survived in manuscripts of and related to the Problemata, two narratives emerge: a chronicle of the earnest attempts of medieval medical theorists and natural philosophers to understand the cause of homosexual desires and pleasures in terms of natural processes, and an ongoing debate as to whether the sciences were equipped or permitted to deal with such subjects at all. Mining hundreds of texts and deciphering commentaries, indices, abbreviations, and marginalia, Joan Cadden shows how European scholars deployed a standard set of philosophical tools and a variety of rhetorical strategies to produce scientific approaches to sodomy.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Dearest Wilding by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Independence Hall in American Memory by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Colonial Complexions by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Asian Medicine and Globalization by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book In the Heat of the Summer by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Measuring Up by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Inventing the Egghead by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book No Use by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Black Gods of the Metropolis by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Tragicomic Redemptions by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Rival Queens by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book Corporate Governance Failures by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries by Joan Cadden
Cover of the book From Dictatorship to Democracy by Joan Cadden
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy