"The Philosophy of the Bedroom"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Marquis de Sade was renowned as a libertarian atheist who took the foundations of the Enlightenment, such as equality, pleasure, and freedom of self-thought, to its limit to create his own, seemingly wayward, taxonomy. The author points out that, in "The Philosophy of the Bedroom," de Sade uses a subjective and argumentative tone to assert his opinions and justifications of his antithetical beliefs on sacrilege, calumny, killing, and theft. The paper relates that de Sade's arguments are founded on a very extreme and over-rationalized viewpoint of theft, and his simplistic and idealistic propositions are not supported with any checks or balances.

From the Paper:

"The assertive language used leaves the reader deceivingly convinced that de Sade's own opinions and thoughts are certainly flawless. However, no matter how influencingly crafted de Sade's propositions are, they still only remain his own thoughts. Whilst the Enlightenment period valued the questioning of the presuppositions that form the basis of our own lives, there was not an encouragement to act unlawfully. This is where two of the Enlightenment thinkers, Immanuel Kant and de Sade, differed. De Sade tended to act upon his radical beliefs, and was jailed for doing so. Kant on the other hand, was not in favor of revolution until there was a consensus through public reason."

More papers on "The Philosophy of the Bedroom":

• Analytical Essay # 35413 : "Bedroom Philosophy"
• Analytical Essay # 41733 : "Morality in Reague and de Sade"
• Comparison Essay # 33236 : "Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and Marquis De Sade's "Justine"

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