Justin ‘Plato’ Hill?

Justin P. Hill’s argument about sex is typical of the dualist approach, which dates back to Plato (“Oversexed,” March 3). Dualism holds that human beings are composed of two distinct and independent selves: the material and the physical. Normally, dualists will side with the spiritual as the more virtuous, as Hill has done in his column, and leave the material to those they consider more base. It is telling, for instance, that Hill denigrates extra-marital sexual activity and making money in the same breath. Both of these are normally considered material, earthly concerns, and dualists warn us to eschew them, lest we become, by some inexplicable process, serial killers. Unfortunately for Hill and his fellow Platonists, humans are whole beings, with mind and body intricately linked. As such, it is important that we understand sex, just as we should understand the importance and virtue of making money. What Hill is advocating with his condemnation of the Kinsey Institute and his encouragement of abstinence is ignorance of a topic very important to human life. I suggest that Hill stroll over to the Kinsey Library and check out its copy of Ayn Rand’s “The Virtue of Selfishness” to discover the true nature of pleasure and its place in our lives. And he might consider taking Indira Dammu with him.