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James Giles (philosopher)

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James Giles
Giles in 2023 at Vancouver Poetry House
Born1958
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia University of Edinburgh
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern and Eastern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic philosophy
Main interests
Metaphysics, Philosophy of mind, Philosophy of sex, Philosophy of love, Existential phenomenology, Evolutionary theory, Buddhist philosophy, Taoist philosophy, Social psychology
Notable ideas
Constructed self-image, Vulnerability and care theory of love, Naked love theory of human evolution, Sexual desire as an existential need
Websitejames-giles.com

James Giles (born 1958) is a Canadian philosopher and psychologist. He has written about the philosophy of perception,[1] personal identity and the self,[2] mindfulness,[3] Buddhist[4] and Taoist philosophy,[5] and has published theories of the evolution of human hairlessness,[6] the nature of sexual desire,[7] sexual attraction,[8] and gender.[9] His wide range of academic interests and often controversial views have earned him the title of an "interdisciplinary maverick."[10]

Schooling and career

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Giles was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, grew up in West Point Grey, and graduated from Point Grey Secondary School.[11] He studied at the University of British Columbia (BA Hons, MA) and at the University of Edinburgh (PhD). In addition to teaching at UBC and Edinburgh, he has also taught at the University of Aalborg, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Hawaii College of Kansai University, Japan, the University of Guam, and La Trobe University, Australia.[12] As of 2021 Giles is a Panel Tutor in Philosophy at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge.[13]

In addition to his academic research, Giles has also written for several media, including Monitor on Psychology, The Copenhagen Post, The Ottawa Citizen, Science of Relationships, The Vancouver Sun, Daily Pacific News, and The Conversation, among others.[14]

Notable ideas

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No-self theory

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Giles takes David Hume's notion of personal identity being a fiction and develops it in terms of Buddhist accounts of no-self and theories of language. Giles points out that many theories of personal identity are reductive theories. They try to reduce the idea of personal identity to elements such as memory, personality, or bodily continuity. The no-self theory, however, is an eliminative theory. That is, it eliminates the idea of personal identity altogether. He allows that we are sometimes aware of psychological and emotional states that seem to give immediate awareness of self. He argues, however, that what we are aware of at these times is not an persisting self, but rather a "constructed or condensed self-image", namely "a composite of related images and meanings referring to how I see myself at that moment".[15] These moments, however, make only rare appearances in consciousness. Giles is a major proponent of the no-self theory. His contributions have been anthologized,[16] received extensive discussion in such diverse fields as philosophy,[17][18][19][20] psychology,[21] history,[22] and communication,[23] and called one of the best comparative studies of Hume and Buddhist philosophy.[24] Giles has also argued for the role of the no-self theory in contemporary mindfulness-based interventions.[25] His original account of the place of the no-self theory here has been widely cited and discussed.[26][27][28]

Metaphysics of awareness

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In a radical interpretation of early Taoist philosophy, Giles argues that the Tao has little to do with mysticism or cosmology. Rather, it refers to human awareness.[29] The Taoist accounts of return and non-action, says Giles, provide us with insights into the nature of awareness and how meditative states can co-exist within and thus underpin everyday awareness.[30] This works through what he calls the double return, or a back and forth of stillness and constant flow of awareness. Giles compares this view of awareness with ancient Greek, Buddhist, existentialist, and analytic accounts of philosophy of mind in an "extension of the global philosophical palette".[31][32]

Nature of sexual desire

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Giles first published his theory of sexual desire in an article entitled "A Theory of Love and Sexual Desire" in 1994.[33] This theory was developed in The Nature of Sexual Desire in 2004/2008.[34] Sexologists usually account for sexual desire either in terms of social constructionism or as a biological characteristic essential to reproduction. Giles rejects both these views, and attempts to show by a phenomenological approach that sexual desire is an existential need rooted in the human condition, based on a feeling of incompleteness from the experience of one's own gender as a form of disequilibrium. The desired person's gender, whether the same or different from one's own gender, is seen as completing one's own gender. As Crockett says, "The core of Giles' argument with regard to the relationship between gender and sexuality is that (gendered) sexual orientation is essential to the experience of sexual desire."[35] Although the theory shows similarities to earlier theories such as those of Thomas Nagel on sexual perversion, or of Aristophanes on romantic love in Plato's Symposium, Giles' core thesis is quite distinct. This is the idea that sexual desire is just the desire for mutual vulnerability and care in the form of baring and caressing. Mutual Baring and caressing are thus the true objects of sexual desire.[36] On Giles' account, says Palm,

sexual interaction opens up as an arena of exploration of this traumatic instance of both being in control of and being exposed to the other. And the good thing about this sexual arena is that, it seems to situate the interplay between control and vulnerability in an arousing context of care, so that sexual interaction provides a safe form for the exploration of these threatening dimensions of existence.[37]

Giles' book on sexual desire has been extensively discussed and reviewed in journals from an array of different disciplines.[38] Giles is also known for both his critique of the attempt to pathologize high levels of sexual behaviour[39][40] and his rejection of the idea that sexual orientation is socially constructed.[41][42][43]

Vulnerability and care theory of love

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The vulnerability and care theory of love was put forward by Giles in his article, "A Theory of Love and Sexual Desire" (1994) and later developed in his book The Nature of Sexual Desire (2004/2008). Giles also presents his theory in a TEDx Talk'.[44] According to Giles, romantic love is a complex of reciprocal desires for mutual vulnerability and care. One desires to be vulnerable before the beloved in order that the beloved may show care. At the same time one desires that the beloved be vulnerable before oneself in order that one may care for her or him. Although vulnerability has often been thought to be an unavoidable and perhaps unwanted consequence of love, Giles sees it as being an essential object of the desires of love. It is also because of these desires that being in love implies having sexual desire towards the beloved. For sexual desire is a desire for a type of vulnerability and care, namely, the physical vulnerability of baring and the physical care of caressing. This does not mean, however, that sexual desire must imply being in love. Sexual desire is not so all-encompassing as romantic desire. His theory of romantic love has been reviewed in numerous journals[45] and discussed by scholars Dr. Ruth, in her textbook Human Sexuality: a Psychosocial Perspective (2002),[46] Dr. Barbara Keesling, in her book Sexual Pleasure: Reaching New Heights of Sexual Arousal (2005).,[47] and Natasha McKeever in Romantic Love and Monogamy: A Philosophical Exploration (2014),[48][49]

Sexual attraction

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In Sexual Attraction: The Psychology of Allure, Giles claims that the experience of sexual attraction has been ignored by scholars or confused with sexual desire. While sexual desire is an urge that is experienced as coming from within, sexual attraction is felt to have its locus in the attractive person. Giles further distinguishes sexual attraction from physical attraction, which can be seen simply as a "subjective experience of positive affect toward a specific individual, based on an assessment of their physical attractiveness"[50] As Zsok et al. point out, this is different from Giles' account of the experience of sexual attraction, which has the following three components:

  • feeling drawn towards the attractive person, much like being drawn by a magnetic quality
  • a sense of helplessness in being drawn towards the person
  • sexual fantasies about erotic interaction with the person.[51]

This shows how sexual attraction can exist independently of any sexual behaviours. This assists in the study of types of sexual attraction that do not necessarily express themselves in sexual behaviour.[52]

Naked love theory

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Giles published his "naked love theory" of human hairlessness in 2010,[53][54] which has a small academic presence in this area.[55] He rejects the widely accepted view that human hairlessness evolved because of the need for thermoregulation when we became hunters and ran after prey. He believes that ancestral women would have been continually pregnant, breast-feeding, or tending small children and so would not have been commonly running after prey. Yet, it is women who are more hairless than men. This suggests that hairlessness began with women and was passed on to men.[56] Giles postulates that hairlessness in human beings evolved as a result of the pleasure of skin-to-skin contact between mother and child, and thus ultimately as a consequence of bipedalism.[57] With all other primates, the infant clings to the mother's fur with its hands and feet. However, with the advent of bipedalism, ancestral human infants lost the ability to cling to their mothers with their feet, which became adapted for walking rather than grasping. Ancestral mothers who were bipedal could compensate for this by holding their infants with their newly freed arms. But carrying an infant is much work. Anything that motivated the mother to carry her infant would thus have been selected for. Naked skin was one such adaptation. Mothers with a hairless mutation, who passed this on to their infants, would have been motivated to hold the infant by the sensual pleasure of skin-to-skin contact. This is the basis of what Giles calls maternal selection for hairless infants. This selection process would have been further driven by sexual selection for hairless sex partners, sex partners who would remind the individual of the sensual contact of infancy. The naked love theory thus explains why women and children are more hairless that adult males.[58] For hairlessness has its origins in the mother-child relationship.[59] According to Giles, naked skin is a precondition for the appearance of romantic love,[60]

One of the problems with this hypothesis is the division of labor in prehistoric society[61] as well as modern hunter-gatherer societies[62]. Male and female hunters are known to have contributed in hunting (including large animals) more than traditionally believed, a trend which remains true today. This would require mothers to have adapted to aerobic endurance loads, and apply their time to activities besides "continually" cradling their infants, to a higher degree than naked love hypothesis implies. In addition, male hairlessness is not explained as effectively by emotional stimulation in itself as it is by thermoregulation. The hair on male bodies has long since been unable to provide meaningful insulation, regardless of any relative abundance, and so isn't likely to have evolved in spite of its usefulness for shedding heat through sweat when running over long distances. Male hairlessness also can't be explained by nursing children or pregnancy. As of 2018 a consensus among paleoanthropologists and biologists was that there are several other likely explanations for human hairlessness, with overheating and ectoparasite prevention being the most and skin-contact-baby/skin-contact-sex being the least likely.[63]

Books

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  • The Way of Awareness in Daoist Philosophy, St. Petersberg, Florida: Three Pines Press, 2020.
  • Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness, Lanham: Hamilton Books, 2017.
  • Sexual Attraction: The Psychology of Allure, Santa Barbra: ABC-Clio, 2015.
  • The Shell of When, Windways Press/Lulu.com, 2011.
  • Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought (Ed.), Basingstoke, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
  • The Nature of Sexual Desire, Connecticut: Praeger, 2004 / Lanham; University Press of America, 2008.
  • Kierkegaard and Freedom (Ed.), Basingstoke, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
  • French Existentialism: Consciousness, Ethics, and Relations with Others (Ed.), Amsterdam and Atlanta : Rodopi, 1999.
  • No Self to be Found: The Search for Personal Identity, Lanham: University Press of America, 1997.
  • A Study in Phenomenalism, Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University, 1994.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ James Giles, A Study in Phenomenalism, Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University, 1994.
  2. ^ James B. Sauer (1997). No Self to be Found: The Search for Personal Identity by James Giles (review). The Personalist Forum 13 (2, Fall 1997): 321–325. (subscription required)
  3. ^ James Giles, "The Relevance of the No-self Theory for Contemporary Mindfulness", Current Opinion in Psychology (Special issue on Mindfulness) 28, 2019, 298-301.
  4. ^ James Giles, "Hakuin, Scepticism, and Seeing into One's Own Nature", Asian Philosophy, 25, 2015, 1-18.
  5. ^ James Giles, The Way of Awareness in Daoist Philosophy, St. Petersberg, Florida: Three Pines Press, 2020.
  6. ^ [s.n.] (8 June 2011). Naked love - A gripping new theory Archived 30 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine. La Trobe University Bulletin. Accessed March 2014.
  7. ^ Robert Scott Stewart (25 August 2009). Review - The Nature of Sexual Desire by James Giles; University Press of America, 2008 Archived 27 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Metapsychology online reviews 13 (35). Accessed March 2014.
  8. ^ James Giles, Sexual Attraction: The Psychology of Allure, Santa Barbra, California: Praeger, 2020.
  9. ^ James Giles, Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness,Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books, 2020.
  10. ^ "The long and the short of it". edition.independent.co.uk. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  11. ^ https://james-giles.com/ [bare URL]
  12. ^ "UBC Alumni Spotlight: Crossing Disciplines, Cultures, and Continents". News - UBC Graduate Studies. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Dr James Giles". Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). University of Cambridge. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  14. ^
  15. ^ James Giles, No Self to Be Found, Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1997, p. 189.
  16. ^ Donald C. Abel, Fifty Readings in Philosophy, fourth edition, New York: McGraw Hill, 2012, p. 244.
  17. ^ Antony Flew, "James Giles on Personal Identity", Philosophy, 67, 261, 1992, pp. 394-398.
  18. ^ V. Çifteci, "The Ideas of the Self and Time in Hume: Are these Two Ideas Reconcilable?". Metamind: Journal Of Artificial Intelligence And Philosophy Of Mind, 2, 1, 2019, pp. 33-47.
  19. ^ Don S. Levi, "The Root Delusion Enshrined in Common Sense and Language". Asian Philosophy, 14, 1, pp. 3-23.
  20. ^ Oren Hanner (2016). Moral Agency under the No-Self Premise: A Comparative Study of Vasubandhu and Derek Parfit (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Hamburg.
  21. ^ Mohammad Manzoor Malik Obhasa, "The Concept of Non-Self In Theravada Buddhism And Its Relation To Human Behavior", Prajñā Vihāra, 23, 2, 2022, pp. 81-94.
  22. ^ Bernadette Baker, "Curriculum Studies, Invisible Objects and Twenty-first Century Societies",Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 29, 1, 2013, pp. 25-47.
  23. ^ Min-Sun Kim, “Towards new conceptions of multicultural identity in intercultural communication,” Empedocles European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, 12 (2) 2021:183-202.
  24. ^ Nicholas F. Gier and Paul Kjellberg, “Buddhism and the Freedom of the Will: Pali and Mahayanist Responses.” In Freedom and Determinism: Topics in Contemporary Philosophy, Edited by J. K. Campbell, D. Shier, and M. O’Rourke (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 277-304.
  25. ^ James Giles, "The Relevance of the No-self Theory for Contemporary Mindfulness," Current Opinion in Psychology (Special issue on Mindfulness) 28, 2019, 298-301
  26. ^ Tran, Benjamin (9 August 2022). The Experience of Mindfulness and its Nondual Nature in Active Practitioners. Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository (MSc thesis).
  27. ^ Obhasa and Mohammad Manzoor Malik, “The Concept Of Non-Self in Theravada Buddhism and Its Relation to Human Behavior”, Prajna Vihara: Journal of Philosophy and religion, 23, 2, July to December 2022, 81-94.
  28. ^ Bernadette B. Forrest, Qualitative Descriptive Exploration of College Students’ Opinions Toward and Experiences with Participating in Mindfulness Programs on a College Campus, Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Alabama, 2022.
  29. ^ Three Pines Press Interview LIVIA KOHN TALKS TO James Giles, 5 February 2921. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhlWDG7xHoo
  30. ^ James Giles (2013). The Metaphysics of Awareness in the Philosophy of Laozi. International Philosophical Quarterly, 53, 4, 435-451. https://doi.org/10.5840/ipq201353443
  31. ^ "The Way of Awareness in Daoist Philosophy – Three Pines Press". Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  32. ^ James Giles, The Way of Awareness in Daoist Philosophy, St. Petersberg, Florida: Three Pines Press, 2020.
  33. ^ James Giles (1994). "A Theory of Love and Sexual Desire". Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 24: 339–357. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5914.1994.tb00259.x
  34. ^ The Nature of Sexual Desire, Wesport, Connecticut: Praeger. Paperback published in 2008 by University Press of America.
  35. ^ Jason Lee Crockett (2010). Narratives of Racial Sexual Preference in Gay Male Subculture (PhD thesis). The University of Arizona. p. 101.
  36. ^ Robert Scott Stewart, "Saying How you Feel: Men and Women on Sexual Arousal and Desire," The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 6.10, 2012, 203-212.
  37. ^ Fredrik Palm, "Sexual Arousal, Danger, and Vulnerability," in Bodies, Boundaries and Vulnerabilities, Crossroads of Knowledge, L.F. Käll (ed.), Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016, 119-140.
  38. ^
    • Marie Santiago Delefosse (2013). Book review: The Nature of Sexual Desire. Journal of Health Psychology, 18, 153-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910531244
    • Elaine Hatfield. (2011). The nature of sexual desire. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37, 2, 268–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1752-0606.2011.00225_2.X
    • T. S. Kisler (2010). The Nature of Sexual Desire - by James Giles. Lanham, MD. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 1, 215–217. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1741-3737.2009.00694.X
    • Jeffrey S. Nevid (2011). Sexual Desire is Also a Many Splendored Thing. Journal of Sex Research, 49, 4, 409–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2011.637401
    • Rebecca Scott (2011). Book Reviews: The Nature of Sexual Desire, James Giles. Anthropological Forum, 21, 1, 77–108. DOI: 10.1080/00664677.2011.549451
    • Nick King (2010). The Nature of Sexual Desire, AIDS Care, 22, 7, 915. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540120903431371
    • Kelley B. McNichols (2010) A Review on The Nature of Sexual Desire, Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 17, 2, 170–172. DOI: 10.1080/10720161003785548
    • Paul Woolley (2010). The Nature of Sexual Desire, Giles J. University Press of America, Plymouth, 2008; 228 pages, British Journal of Sexual Medicine, 32, 4.
    • Rosemary Coates (2009). The Nature of Sexual Desire, Sexual Health 6, 2, 173. https://doi.org/10.1071/SHv6n2_BR
    • Robert Scott Stewart, Ph.D. (2009). The Nature of Sexual Desire. Metapsychology Online Reviews, 13, 35. https://metapsychology.net/index.php/book-review/the-nature-of-sexual-desire/
    • Matthew Stief (2009). The Nature of Sexual Desire (review). Anthropological Quarterly, 82, 4, 1081–1085. https://doi.org/10.1353/ANQ.0.0089.
    • Jeremy Tudway (2009). Book reviews: The Nature of Sexual Desire, James Giles. Lanham: University Press of America, 2008. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 15, 3, 345–348, DOI: 10.1080/13552600903215814
    • Shahid Akhter (2009). The Nature of Sexual Desire by Dr. James Giles. Heal India, February, 66.
    • Felicia De la Garza-Mercer, MA (2007). A Review of: “The Nature of Sexual Desire”, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 33, 1, 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/00926230600998631
    • Meg Barker (2007). Review of “The Nature of Sexual Desire” by James Giles, Culture, Health and Sexuality, 9, 2, 211–213.
    • Helen Startup, The Nature of Sexual Desire, by James Giles, Sexual and Relationship 2006, 21, 1, 112.
    • Laura Batstra (2005). Book Review: The Nature of Sexual Desire, James Giles, Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 26, 3, 225.
  39. ^ Långström, N., Hanson, R.K. Population Correlates are Relevant to Understanding Hypersexuality: A Response to Giles. Arch Sex Behav 35, 643–644 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9102-y
  40. ^ James Giles, Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness, New York: Hamilton Books, 2017, Chapter 6: No Such Thing as Excessive Levels of Sexual Behaviour.
  41. ^ Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness, New York: Hamilton Books, 2017, Chapter 5: Gilbert Herdt on Sambian Sexual culture.
  42. ^ Nathan McConaghy, Time to Abandon the Gay/Heterosexual Dichotomy?. Arch Sex Behav 34, 1–2 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-0995-7
  43. ^ James Giles. The Heterosexual/Homosexual Distinction: A Reply to McConaghy (2005). Arch Sex Behav 35, 3–4 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-8988-8
  44. ^ Love, Vulnerability, and Care: James Giles at TEDxHackney, 25 July 2013, retrieved 2 August 2023
  45. ^ See endnote 37
  46. ^ Ruth Westheimer and Sanford Lopater, Human Sexuality: a Psychosocial Perspective, New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002.
  47. ^ Barbara Keesling Sexual Pleasure: Reaching New Heights of Sexual Arousal, 2nd edition, Alameda, CA: Hunter House, 2005.
  48. ^ Natasha McKeever (2014). Romantic Love and Monogamy: A Philosophical Exploration (PhD thesis). University of Sheffield.
  49. ^ Natasha McKeever, Love: what's sex got to do with it? International Journal of Applied Philosophy 30 (2): 201-218. 2016.
  50. ^ Florian Zsok, Matthias Haucke; Cornelia de Wit; Dick Barelds. "What kind of love is love at first sight? An empirical investigation". Personal Relationships, July, 2016: 871
  51. ^ Richard D. Mcanulty, "The Heart of Sexual Attraction". PsycCritiques, July, 2016
  52. ^ Sophie A. Muir (2018). More than "Potential Offenders": Understanding Adults who are Sexually Attracted to Children who have not Offended (PhD thesis). New Zealand: Massey University. p. 9.
  53. ^ James Giles (2010). "Naked love: The evolution of human hairlessness". Biological Theory 5: 326–336.
  54. ^ James Giles, Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness, Lanham: Hamilton Books, Chapter 8, 2017.
  55. ^ "How scientists perceive the evolutionary origin of human traits: Results of a survey study". 26 February 2018.
  56. ^ "The long and the short of it". edition.independent.co.uk. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  57. ^ Shea, Christopher (12 July 2011). "Human Hairlessness: The 'Naked Love' Explanation". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  58. ^ Giles, James (14 December 2011). "Why do women have less body hair than men?". The Conversation. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  59. ^ "Why Are Humans Hairless Compared To Other Mammals?". Science ABC. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  60. ^ "Hairless Skin and Romantic Love: The Naked Love Theory". Luvze. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  61. ^ Haas R, Watson J, Buonasera T, Southon J, Chen JC, Noe S, Smith K, Llave CV, Eerkens J, Parker G. Female hunters of the early Americas. Sci Adv. 2020 Nov 4;6(45):eabd0310. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd0310. PMID: 33148651; PMCID: PMC7673694.
  62. ^ The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts Anderson A, Chilczuk S, Nelson K, Ruther R, Wall-Scheffler C https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287101
  63. ^ "How scientists perceive the evolutionary origin of human traits: Results of a survey study". 26 February 2018.

Further reading

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