Martha C. Nussbaum
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199777853
- eISBN:
- 9780190267612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199777853.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter reviews the book The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), by William Ian Miller. Aristotle's students did not want to study the parts of animals. Recoiling in disgust from the study of blood and ...
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This chapter reviews the book The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), by William Ian Miller. Aristotle's students did not want to study the parts of animals. Recoiling in disgust from the study of blood and flesh, they found the distant stars cleaner and more appealing. But Aristotle advised them not to “make a sour face” at biology. Miller finds nothing but disgust in the contemplation of what he calls “thick, greasy life.” He maintains that our disgust with our own feces, sweat, hairiness, or semen is a major element in our humanity—not only in the personal life, where it explains why sex is “so difficult,” but also in public life, in political life. Miller's book has three goals: to analyze the emotion of disgust; to give an account of when and where people experience disgust in daily life and in the sexual realm; and to investigate the role of disgust in morals and politics. His account of the emotion of disgust draws on psychology, literature, and history—all filtered through his own vivid narrative of the phenomena of bodily existence.Less
This chapter reviews the book The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), by William Ian Miller. Aristotle's students did not want to study the parts of animals. Recoiling in disgust from the study of blood and flesh, they found the distant stars cleaner and more appealing. But Aristotle advised them not to “make a sour face” at biology. Miller finds nothing but disgust in the contemplation of what he calls “thick, greasy life.” He maintains that our disgust with our own feces, sweat, hairiness, or semen is a major element in our humanity—not only in the personal life, where it explains why sex is “so difficult,” but also in public life, in political life. Miller's book has three goals: to analyze the emotion of disgust; to give an account of when and where people experience disgust in daily life and in the sexual realm; and to investigate the role of disgust in morals and politics. His account of the emotion of disgust draws on psychology, literature, and history—all filtered through his own vivid narrative of the phenomena of bodily existence.
