Psychopathia sexualis, with especial reference to the antipathetic sexual instinct: a medico-forensic study (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

I. FRAGMENTS OF A SYSTEM OF PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXUAL LIFE.THE propagation of the human race is not left to mere accident or the caprices of the individual, but is guaranteed by the hidden laws of nature which are enforced by a mighty, irresistible impulse. Sensual enjoyment and physical fitness are not the only conditions for the enforcement of these laws, but higher motives and aims, such as the desire to continue the species or Ihe individuality of mental and physical qualities beyond time and space, exert a considerable influence. Man puts himself at once on a level with the beast if he seeks to gratify lust alone, but he elevates his superior position when by curbing the animal desire he combines with the sexual functions ideas of morality, of the sublime, and the beautiful.Placed upon this lofty pedestal he stands far above nature and draws from inexhaustible sources material for nobler enjoyments, for serious work and for the realisation of ideal aims. Maudsley ("Deutsche Klinik," 1873, 2, 3) justly claims that sexual feeling is the basis upon which social advancement is developed.Tf man were deprived of sexual distinction and the nobler enjoyments arising therefrom, all poetry and probably all moral tendency would be eliminated from his life.Sexual life no doubt is the one mighty factor in the individual and social relations of man which disclose his powers of activity, of acquiring property, of establishing a homo, of awakening altruistic sentiments towards a person of the opposite sex, and towards his own issue as well as towards the whole human race.Sexual feeling is really the root of all ethics, and no doubt of cestheticism and religion.The sublimest virtues, even the sacrifice of self, may spring from sexual life, which, however, on account of its sensual power, may easily degenerate into the lowest passion and basest vice.Love unbridled is a volcano that burns down and lays waste all around it; it is an abyss that devours all— honour, substance and health.It is of great psychological interest to follow up the gradual development of civilisation and the influence exerted by sexual life upon habits and morality. 1 The gratification of the sexual instinct seems to be the primary motive in man as well as in beast. Sexual intercourse is done openly, and man and woman are not ashamed of their nakedness. The savage races, e.g., Australasians, Polynesians, Malays of the Philippines are still in this stage (vide Ploss}. Woman is the common property of man, the spoil of the strongest and mightiest, who chooses the most winsome for his own, a sort of instinctive sexual selection of the fittest.Woman is a "chattel," an article of commerce, exchange or gift, a vessel for sensual gratification, an implement for toil. The presence of shame in the manifestations and exercise of the sexual functions, and of modesty in the mutual relations between the sexes are the foundations of morality. Thence arises the desire to cover the nakedness ("and they saw that they were naked") and to perform the act in private.The development of this grade of civilisation is furthered by the conditions of frigid climes which necessitate the protection of the whole body against the cold. It is an*Cf. Lombroso, " The Criminal "; Westermarck, " The History of Marriage "; Ploss, " Das Weib in der Natur- und VOlkerkunde," third edition, vol. ii., p. 413-90. Joseph Miiller, " Das sexuelle Leben der NaturvSlkur," 2 Aufl. 1902; derselbe, "Das sexuelle Leben der alten Kulturvolker, 1902 (Leipzig, Grieben). ...