General & Miscellaneous Theology, Jewish Philosophy, Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Theoretical, Ethics, Christian

In Defense of Sin

Name: In Defense of Sin
Author: John Portmann
ISBN: 9781403961426

by John Portmann (Editor), John Portmann

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Overview

Intriguing, and occasionally unsettling, In Defense of Sinis a refreshingly frank exploration of some real facts of life. Portmann gathers an on-target collection of great writers on transgressions large and small. Read about defenses for promiscuity, greed, deceit, gossip, lust, breaking the golden rule, and more—and use this unusual guide to decide for yourself if sin has a place in our contemporary, and virtually unshockable, society.

Provocative and illuminating, this book may change how you think about sin, morality, and what's right.

Contributors include Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, Anthony Ellis, Jane English, Ludwig Feuerbach, Sigmund Freud, Bernard Mandeville, Jerome Neu, Friedrich Nietzsche, David Novitz, Joyce Carol Oates, David A.J. Richards, Seneca, Jonathan Swift, Richard Wasserstrom, and Oscar Wilde.

Synopsis

Provocative and illuminating, this book may change how you think about sin, morality, and what's right.

Stanley Fish

...a book defending lust, gossip, deceit, and prostitution, and-a book that is finally more moral than The Book of Virtues.

About the Author, John Portmann

John Portmann is the author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People.He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and his forthcoming book is Sex and Heaven.

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Editorials

Stanley Fish

...a book defending lust, gossip, deceit, and prostitution, and-a book that is finally more moral than The Book of Virtues.

Publishers Weekly

In this age of pious hyperbole, a volume extolling the virtues of sinfulness is very welcome. Portmann, the author of a wonderful examination of schadenfreude, When Bad Things Happen to Other People, here offers selections from a range of authors in defense of 16 varieties of evil, four of which are sexual. He makes no claims to inclusiveness the deadly sins of sloth and gluttony and biblical injunctions against profaning the Sabbath and coveting one's neighbor are sadly omitted to make way for vindications of new transgressions gossip, promiscuity, despair. The readings are uneven in tone and focus, thanks to the inclusion of excerpts from popular texts that seem off base. Oscar Wilde's mordant paean to lying, for example, is less about noble forms of deceit such as "white lies" than about the supremacy of art over nature, of the imaginary over the real. In defense of murder, Portmann offers a familiar satire by Jonathan Swift rather than a serious discussion of capital punishment or some other case in applied ethics. In contrast, chapters such as Anthony Ellis's vindication of casual sex and David Novitz's rejection of forgiveness are focused and provocative. The odd selection might have worked had the editor's introductions been less perfunctory. As it stands, the collection reads like a packet of texts assembled for a college course; absent is the authoritative presence required to tie it all together. (Sept. 8) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.