A Problem in Modern Ethics
John Addington Symonds
“Society lies under the spell of ancient terrorism and coagulated errors. Science is either wilfully hypocritical or radically misinformed.”
John Addington Symonds struck many an heroic note in this courageous (albeit anonymously circulated) essay. He is a worthy Virgil guiding the reader through the Inferno of suffering which emerging medico-legal definitions of the sexually deviant were prepared to inflict on his century and on the one which followed. Symonds pleads for sane human values in a world of Urnings, Dionings, Urano-Dionings and Uraniasters - in short, the whole paraphernalia of Victorian taxonomies and undigested Darwinism which, superimposed on the “terrorism” of religion, labelled and to some extent created the specimen “homosexual.”
A discussion of the “manly love” poems of Walt Whitman leads the author to speculate on a better future for the criminalised mutual passions of men; yet he is obliged to defer the dream, for “the world cannot be invited to entertain it.” (Introduction by Martin Geeson)
Author - John Addington Symonds.
Narrator - LibriVox Community.
Published Date - Thursday, 19 January 2023.
Location:
United States
Description:
“Society lies under the spell of ancient terrorism and coagulated errors. Science is either wilfully hypocritical or radically misinformed.” John Addington Symonds struck many an heroic note in this courageous (albeit anonymously circulated) essay. He is a worthy Virgil guiding the reader through the Inferno of suffering which emerging medico-legal definitions of the sexually deviant were prepared to inflict on his century and on the one which followed. Symonds pleads for sane human values in a world of Urnings, Dionings, Urano-Dionings and Uraniasters - in short, the whole paraphernalia of Victorian taxonomies and undigested Darwinism which, superimposed on the “terrorism” of religion, labelled and to some extent created the specimen “homosexual.” A discussion of the “manly love” poems of Walt Whitman leads the author to speculate on a better future for the criminalised mutual passions of men; yet he is obliged to defer the dream, for “the world cannot be invited to entertain it.” (Introduction by Martin Geeson) Author - John Addington Symonds. Narrator - LibriVox Community. Published Date - Thursday, 19 January 2023.
Language:
English
Chapter 1
Duration:00:10:36
Chapter 2
Duration:00:07:53
Chapter 3
Duration:00:12:14
Chapter 4
Duration:00:08:15
Chapter 5
Duration:00:16:11
Chapter 6
Duration:00:13:19
Chapter 7
Duration:00:10:10
Chapter 8
Duration:00:10:31
Chapter 9
Duration:00:19:25
Chapter 10
Duration:00:15:51
Chapter 11
Duration:00:15:47
Chapter 12
Duration:00:16:13
Chapter 13
Duration:00:17:56
Chapter 14
Duration:00:19:18
Chapter 15
Duration:00:12:46
Chapter 16
Duration:00:10:34
Chapter 17
Duration:00:15:59
Chapter 18
Duration:00:13:06
Chapter 19
Duration:00:11:13
Chapter 20
Duration:00:13:23
Chapter 21
Duration:00:10:25
Chapter 22
Duration:00:09:32