Love and sexuality

Love and sexuality have always occupied an important space within phenomenological discussions of embodiment, intersubjectivity, intentionality, and affect. Unlike psychoanalysis and poststructuralism, phenomenology has always treated sexuality as having existential meaning, treating it as one among multiple fundamental modes of lived experience. In classical phenomenology we find descriptions of sexuality as an "original intentionality" (Merleau-Ponty 2012), an "original mode of realising Being-for-Others" (Sartre 1978), and a "concrete expression of existence" (Beauvoir 1972). And, in the phenomenological tradition, love is considered an important ground for ethics and the apprehension of persons. Beginning with Husserl’s analyses and deepened in the work of Stein, Scheler, Merleau-Ponty, Beauvoir, and more, love apprehends the value of other persons. It provides insight into the nature of selfhood. Further, love has traditionally been taken to exemplify intimate forms of we-relations and has been claimed to be required for certain forms of emotional sharing (Scheler 2008).

More recently, scholars have drawn on resources within classical phenomenology to provide comprehensive accounts of sexual differences which further illuminate experiences of trans embodiment and nonnormative sexualities (Rodemeyer 2017, 2018; Salamon 2010; Bettcher 2014; Ahmed 2006). These inroads have been further consolidated by the current ferment of discussions which fall under the heading of 'critical phenomenology'. Critical phenomenological approaches emphasise the importance of bringing phenomenological descriptions into dialogue with perspectives from feminist philosophy, decolonial, Latinx, and critical race theory, gender and disability studies, queer theory, and many more. Meanwhile, contemporary phenomenologists of love contend with the nature of romantic love, monogamy and non-monogamy, and heteronormativity.

Within this one-day workshop, we aim to explore, develop, and critically engage with phenomenological descriptions of love and sexuality. We aim to foster dialogue between scholars working on any aspect of love and/or sexuality from a phenomenological perspective. This includes (but is not limited to): desire, sexed embodiment, sexual style(s) and identities, affective intentionality and affective atmospheres, modes of willing and striving, sexual orientation, intimacy, trans* experiences, sexual practices, relationship structures, the roles of empathy and imagination, temporalities, and sexed and gendered differences. 

Keynote speakers

• Ellie Anderson
• Sara Heinämaa

Programme

Registration

• In-person participation
  
  
• Online participation*

* Registered online participants will receive a link to view a stream of the event. Unfortunately, we will not be able to take questions from the online audience.