Frisbee Sheffield argues that the Symposium has been unduly marginalized by philosophers. Although the topic - eros - and the setting at a symposium have seemed anomalous, she demonstrates that both are intimately related to Plato's preoccupation with the nature of the good life, with virtue, and how it is acquired and transmitted. For Plato, analysing our desires is a way of reflecting on the kind of people we will turn out to be and on our chances of leading a worthwhile and happy life. In its focus on the question why he considered desires to be amenable to this type of reflection, this book explores Plato's ethics of desire.

Essays cover historical, sociological, psychological and anthropological approaches, ethics and politics, and the policy implications of the real and perceived differences between the sexes

This work offers a "symposium" on the nature of human sexual difference drawing on Plato's masterpiece: having explored the observed phenomena of sexual difference, four stories are told of the origins, essence, and ends of the human male and female. First, the evolutionists, and then Simone de Beauvoir, and Judith Butler present their accounts. Next, a fourth (and unique vision for our age) is added: the thought of Thomas Aquinas is placed in dialogue with the evolutionists, Beauvoir, and Butler, thereby introducing into contemporary discourse a voice that is both ancient and new. The work seeks to trace each protagonist's account to its fonts, so providing a perspective from which various streams of thought might be understood both in their divergence and common origins. It thus hopes to offer a common language and an interpretive key in a realm where confusion and misunderstanding too often reign.

Two principles capture the essence of the official Catholic position on the morality of sexuality: first, that any human genital act must occur within the framework of heterosexual marriage; second, each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life. In this comprehensive overview of Catholicism and sexuality, theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler examine and challenge these principles. Remaining firmly within the Catholic tradition, they contend that the church is being inconsistent in its teaching by adopting a dynamic, historically conscious anthropology and worldview on social ethics and the interpretation of scripture while adopting a static, classicist anthropology and worldview on sexual ethics. While some documents from Vatican II, like Gaudium et spes ("the marital act promotes self-giving by which spouses enrich each other"), gave hope for a renewed understanding of sexuality, the church has not carried out the full implications of this approach. In short, say Salzman and Lawler: emphasize relationships, not acts, and recognize Christianity's historically and culturally conditioned understanding of human sexuality. The Sexual Person draws historically, methodologically, and anthropologically from the best of Catholic tradition and provides a context for current theological debates between traditionalists and revisionists regarding marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, and what it means to be human. This daring and potentially revolutionary book will be sure to provoke constructive dialogue among theologians, and between theologians and the Magisterium.

This is an open access book. The 5th International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2023) was held on October 20-22, 2023 in Chengdu, China. Literature is an art that reflects the social life and expresses the author's thoughts and feelings by shaping images with language as the means. Art is a social ideology that uses images to reflect reality but is more typical than reality. It includes literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, music and so on. Literature is one of the forms of expression belonging to art. Literature and art are difficult to separate by a clear boundary, but also for people to create more infinite imagination space. ICLAHD 2023 is to bring together innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of Literature, Art and Human Development research to a common forum. The primary goal of the conference is to promote research and developmental activities in Literature, Art and Human Development research and another goal is to promote scientific information interchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working all around the world. The conference will be held every year to make it an ideal platform for people to share views and experiences in Literature, Art and Human Development research and related areas.

This is an open access book. AICoLLiM is the annual conference on the area of language, literature and media. It provides a forum for presenting and discussing the expanding paradigm, latest innovations, results and developments in language, literature and media. The conference provides a forum for lecturers, students, researchers, practitioners and media professionals engaged in research and development to share ideas, interact with others, present their latest works, and strengthen the collaboration among academics, researcher and professionals.

On April 14, 1986, Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris. She was the “prettiest Existentialist”, who during her long and intense life had observed, described, analytically deconstructed and effectively changed the world that surrounded her, “one word at a time”. An engaged intellectual like her life partner and comrade Jean-Paul Sartre, she took actively part in most of the main social and political struggles of the 20th century, including, first and foremost, women’s emancipation and self-determination, as well as the decolonisation of French Algeria, and the denouncement of American imperialism in Vietnam and the marginalisation of elderly people in contemporary societies. This collection of essays, arising from the 18th International Conference of the Simone de Beauvoir Society held in Cagliari, Italy, in June 2010, provides a major contribution to the field of Beauvoirian studies with up-to-date research provided by scholars from a variety of disciplines that range from French literature to gender studies, from philosophy to social sciences, offering a multifaceted overview on the “state of the art” of research on the life and the works of Simone de Beauvoir, 30 years after her demise.

This is an open access book. Praise and thanks giving we pray to God Almighty because for the blessings of His grace and guidance, we were able to complete the task of this paper. The purpose of writing this paper is to fulfill the requirement of INCOLS 4.0. We also hope that this article is able to describe these issues precisely and clearly. If there are mistakes and shortcomings, we are ready to receive any suggestions and constructive criticism from the readers. The author hoped the contents of this paper would be useful in enriching the repertoire of knowledge. Hopefully, God replies to you all, helps, and blesses you all.