In the Name of Love

A Philosopher Looks at Our Deepest Emotions

Aaron Ben-Zeév is President and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Haifa. His books include: In the Name of Love: Romantic Ideology and its Victims. See full bio

November 28, 2008, Relationships

Comments on "Is Sexual Desire An Emotion?"

Is Sexual Desire An Emotion?

By Aaron Ben-Zeév, Ph.D. on November 28, 2008 in In the Name of Love

Some people do not consider sexual desire to be an emotion but rather something else such as, for example, a biological urge like hunger and thirst. I disagree. When considering all the basic characteristics and components of typical emotions, sexual desire emerges as a most typical emotion. Read More

i agree that change is a

Submitted by farouk on November 29, 2008 - 3:21am.

i agree that change is a must else people get bored

I think you're making this unnecessarily complicated

Submitted by Martian Bachelor on December 1, 2008 - 9:56am.

I noticed the word "discomfort" is entirely lacking from this essay. I would contend that this is what sexual desire shares with hunger and/or thirst (and maybe even the emotion of romantic love, too): the emotional feeling of discomfort which pushes us in the direction of alleviating said discomfort.

Think of such slang terms as "comfort food" and "hot dish", and perhaps you'll see what I'm getting at.

Emotions are very complex

Submitted by Aaron Ben-Zeév, Ph.D. on December 1, 2008 - 7:58pm.

I agree that every emotion involves a motivational component which addresses our desires to act in the given circumstances. But the motivational component does not have to be merely in the form of discomfort; sometimes, as in the case of love, it expresses a great pleasure and comfort. However, this is not relevant to my claim that sexual desire is an emotion. It is not me who complicated the explanation of emotions—emotions themselves are very complicated; probably, the most complex mental phenomena.

wow

Submitted by Jason Casey on December 29, 2008 - 8:19pm.

This is great stuff, i really like some of the material here. I am 16 years of age and this to me seems like a very insightful article, thank you for sharing.

Food for thought

Submitted by pastfirst on December 31, 2008 - 6:05am.

I started reading your article with the belief that sexual desire is not an emotion but as I read on, I became convinced that you're 100% correct!
Very interesting! Something to think about!