In Defense of Sin

Book Overview

Intriguing, and occasionally unsettling, In Defense of Sinis a refreshingly frank exploration of some real facts of life. Portmann gathers an on-target collection of great writers on transgressions large and small. Read about defenses for promiscuity, greed, deceit, gossip, lust, breaking the golden rule, and more--and use this unusual guide to decide for yourself if sin has a place in our contemporary, and virtually unshockable, society.

Provocative and illuminating, this book may change how you think about sin, morality, and what's right.

Contributors include Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, Anthony Ellis, Jane English, Ludwig Feuerbach, Sigmund Freud, Bernard Mandeville, Jerome Neu, Friedrich Nietzsche, David Novitz, Joyce Carol Oates, David A.J. Richards, Seneca, Jonathan Swift, Richard Wasserstrom, and Oscar Wilde.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1403961425
• ISBN13: 9781403961426
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Interesting Anthology

John Portman's In Defense of Sin is a reasonably interesting anthology. Some of the items are familiar - Wilde, Seneca - others less so. Its philisophy lite. Its greatest appeal will be to someone who has just started to explore philisophy, and would like to get an idea of some of the arguments without going into a mass of technical detail. For that purpose, its quite useful, and some of the extracts are quite good. I particularly like the Wilde. If this anthology gets people to read deeper, it will have served its purpose. The anthology is a quick read, and I'd recommend it for philisophy beginners... and those curious to see what can be said for sin.