THE ACT OF FREEDOM: EROS, COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND SEX

Although most people are probably fairly comfortable with the word ‘cognitive’ by itself, the word ‘dissonance’ is not one that gets used a lot in everyday conversation. In a basic sense, cognitive dissonance just refers to a situation where someone’s behaviour conflicts with their beliefs or attitudes. A psychologist by the name of Leon Festinger came up with the idea of cognitive dissonance way back in the late 1950s and did a heap of pioneering work in the field. We can essentially achieve the reduction of dissonance in one of three ways: either we change our attitude /belief /behaviour, acquire new information , or reduce the importance of cognitions. The philosophical discussion of sex in the West began with the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. His dialogues Symposium and Phaedrus, which are about Eros, are provocative, astute, and an indispensable foundation for anyone interested in pursuing the philosophy of sex. Although Plato's student Aristotle had little to say about Eros, he meditates at length in his Nicomachean Ethics about philia, arguing that genuine friends improve each other's virtue and want the good for each other for each other's sake. Those who engage in research in the philosophy of sex commonly also study the related phenomena of love and friendship. The philosophy of sex generates its most instructive results when approached interdisciplinarity, when it pays attention not only to the psychology of sex and love but also to the sociology and history of mating practices and marriage forms, the anthropology of sexual and fertility rites and rituals, and the anatomical, physiological, and genetic findings of biomedical science. This is where we begin with our journey. This book analyses philosophical and psychological components of modern sexuality and sex, with dissonance in mind and a few critical stands along the way. The writing of Lacan, Bataille, de Sade, Foucault and many more are thoroughly depicted and discussed becoming less ignorant. The main purpose of this book is to shed some light towards the structure and nature of sexuality, sexual desire and gender identity, but also to talk about the taboos and stigmatized topics.