The Mismeasure of Desire

The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of [...] Orientation is a 1999 book AbOUT [...] orientation research by philosopher Edward Stein. The work has been praised by philosophers.

Summary

Stein discusses [...] orientation research, criticizing several other authors for their views on the subject. He finds research that claims to have identified genes that cause homosexuality in drosophilia (fruit flies), including a 1995 study by Jean-François Ferveur et al. that was published in Science magazine, to be guilty of extreme anthropomorphism. Stein argues that such research is irrelevant to understanding [...] orientation in humans. He criticizes journalist Chandler Burr for uncritically accepting "courtship" behavior between male fruit flies as an example of animal homosexuality. Stein calls Burr's work "unsophisticated" and criticizes him for his failure to discuss social constructionist views of [...] orientation. Other writers Stein criticizes for their treatment of social constructionism include Michael Ruse, Simon LeVay, and Andrew Sullivan. Stein argues that it has not been shown that [...] orientations are non-arbitrary groups ("natural kinds") and that the ethics of [...] orientation research are open to question.

Discussing the debate over [...] orientation between "essentialists" and "constructionists", Stein observes that essentialists generally see heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual orientations as "natural human kinds" that can be found in other cultures and throughout history, whereas constructionists maintain that [...] orientations are "social human kinds", linguistic constructs that capture certain culturally derived meanings about [...] behavior.

Scholarly reception

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum praised The Mismeasure of Desire, although she also criticized it on some details, suggesting that Stein's account of natural kinds, and hence also the debate over social constructionism, is unclear.

Stein's work was described by philosopher John Corvino as a "dated but still excellent" book on the limitations and relevance of [...] orientation research.

See also

• A Separate Creation
• Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry
• [...] Preference (book)
• The [...] Brain
• Virtually Normal

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