A Problem in Modern Ethics

John Addington Symonds (1840 - 1893)

“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)

Genre(s): Political Science, Psychology, Life Sciences

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 00 - Title Page, Table of Contents, Introduction Martin Geeson
00:10:36
Play 01 01 - I Christian Opinion Martin Geeson
00:07:53
Play 02 02 - II Vulgar Errors Martin Geeson
00:12:15
Play 03 03 - III Literature: Descriptive Martin Geeson
00:08:15
Play 04 04 - IV Literature: Medico-Forensic Martin Geeson
00:16:12
Play 05 05 - V.i - Literature: Medicine. Moreau Martin Geeson
00:13:20
Play 06 06 - V.ii - Literature: Medicine. Moreau, cont. Martin Geeson
00:10:11
Play 07 07 - V.iii - Literature: Medicine. Tarnowsky Martin Geeson
00:10:32
Play 08 08 - V.iv - Literature: Medicine. Krafft-Ebing Martin Geeson
00:19:26
Play 09 09 - V.v - Literature: Medicine. Krafft-Ebing, cont. Martin Geeson
00:15:52
Play 10 10 - V.vi - Literature: Medicine. Lombroso Martin Geeson
00:15:47
Play 11 11 - V.vii - Literature: Medicine. Note to the Foregoing Section Martin Geeson
00:16:14
Play 12 12 - VI - Literature: Historical, Anthropological Martin Geeson
00:17:57
Play 13 13 - VII.i - Literature: Polemical. Ulrichs Martin Geeson
00:19:19
Play 14 14 - VII.ii - Literature: Polemical. Ulrichs, cont. Martin Geeson
00:12:46
Play 15 15 - VII.iii - Literature: Polemical. Ulrichs, cont. Martin Geeson
00:10:35
Play 16 16 - VII.iv - Literature: Polemical. Ulrichs, cont. Martin Geeson
00:16:00
Play 17 17 - VII.v - Literature: Polemical. Ulrichs, cont. Martin Geeson
00:13:06
Play 18 18 - VIII.i - Literature: Idealistic. Walt Whitman Martin Geeson
00:11:14
Play 19 19 - VIII.ii - Literature: Idealistic. Walt Whitman, cont. Martin Geeson
00:13:23
Play 20 20 - IX - Epilogue Martin Geeson
00:10:25
Play 21 21 - X - Suggestions upon Legislation Martin Geeson
00:09:32