THE PHILOSOPHY OF VIAGRA VIBS Volume 230 Robert Ginsberg Founding Editor Leonidas Donskis Executive Editor Associate Editors G. John M. Abbarno Steven V. Hicks George Allan Richard T. Hull Gerhold K. Becker Michael Krausz Raymond Angelo Belliotti Olli Loukola Kenneth A. Bryson Mark Letteri C. Stephen Byrum Vincent L. Luizzi Robert A. Delfino Adrianne McEvoy Rem B. Edwards J.D. Mininger Malcolm D. Evans Peter A. Redpath Roland Faber Arleen L. F. Salles Andrew Fitz-Gibbon John R. Shook Francesc Forn i Argimon Eddy Souffrant Daniel B. Gallagher Tuija Takala William C. Gay Emil Višňovský Dane R. Gordon Anne Waters J. Everet Green James R. Watson Heta Aleksandra Gylling John R. Welch Matti Häyry Thomas Woods Brian G. Henning a volume in Philosophy of Sex and Love PSL Adrianne McEvoy, Editor THE PHILOSOPHY OF VIAGRA Bioethical Responses to the Viagrification of the Modern World Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein Amsterdam - New York, NY 2011 Cover Photo: www.dreamstime.com Cover Design: Studio Pollmann The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-3336-8 E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-0036-3 © Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2011 Printed in the Netherlands CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: Viagra, Lifestyle, and the Philosophical Perspective 1 THORSTEN BOTZ-BORNSTEIN ONE Eros, Viagra, and the Good Life: Reflections on Cephalus and Platonic Moderation 9 SOPHIE BOURGAULT TWO Diogenes of Sinope Gets Hard on Viagra 25 ROBERT VUCKOVICH THREE A Question of Virtuous Sex: Would Aristotle Take Viagra? 45 THOMAS KAPPER FOUR 0DQ¶V)DOOHQ6WDWH6W$XJXVWLQHRQ9LDJUD 57 KEVIN GUILFOY FIVE Viagra and the Utopia of Immortality 71 ROBERT REDEKER SIX Enhancing Desire Philosophically: Feminism, Viagra, and the Biopolitics of the Future 77 CONNIE C. PRICE SEVEN Red Pill or Blue Pill? Viagra and the Virtual 89 THORSTEN BOTZ-BORNSTEIN EIGHT Virility, Viagra, and Virtue: Re-Reading Humane Vitae in an African Light 99 ANTHONY OKEREGBE NINE Erecting New Goals for Medicine: Viagra and Medicalization 111 DÓNAL O¶MATHÚNA TEN Desire and its Mysteries: Erectile Stimulators Between Thighs and Selves 127 CLAUDE-RAPHAËL SAMAMA vi Contents ELEVEN America and Viagra or How the White Negro Became a Little Whiter: Viagra as an Afro-Disiac 145 THORSTEN BOTZ-BORNSTEIN TWELVE David Hume Meets Viagra: The Misuse of the Science of Erectile Dysfunction 157 HERBERT ROSEMAN THIRTEEN A Short Note on Viagra and Thanatos 175 HERBERT ROSEMAN FOURTEEN Comparative Melioration and Pathological Pathogenization in Viagra Marketing 179 ROMAN MEINHOLD FIFTEEN Erectus Interruptus: All Erections Are Not Equal 191 BASSAM ROMAYA WORKS CITED 205 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 219 INDEX 223 Introduction VIAGRA, LIFESTYLE, AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE Thorsten Botz-Bornstein 1. A New Lifestyle Drug 7KHLPSRWHQF\UHPHG\9LDJUDLVWKH³IDVWHVWVHOOLQJGUXJLQKLVWRU\´ 0F*LQQ 1998, p. 44). It is no longer a medical phenomenon, but also a cultural icon, appearing in television sitcoms as a pretext for jokes or as a murder weapon, ULYDOLQJ ZLWK ³&RFD-Cola as one of the most widely known brands in the ZRUOG´ New York Times, 21 August 2003). Viagra (as well as similar products like Levitra and Cialis) has socio-cultural implications not limited to sexuality, but concerns various parts of our cultural landscape. The fact that popular culture embraced Viagra with such an enthusiasm is due to a paradox: though Viagra has been established on the assumption that impotency is a purely med- ical (and not social or psychological) phenomenon, the drug can also be used for recreational purposes, that is, within socially and psychologically estab- lished contexts. The cultural status of Viagra becomes even more complex as the borderlines between recreational and non-recreational sex are blurred. In spite of, or because of, the narrow humanistic basis offered by its pro- ducers, Viagra has attained status as a lifestyle drug and men between the ages of 18 and 45 are the fastest growing consumer group. In principle, the term lifestyle drug encompasses ³GUXJV WKDW IXOILOO QRQ-medical or non-health- UHODWHG RXWFRPHV´ 5XELQ :\OLH S +RZHYHU LQ WKH PRGHUQ ZRUOG ZKHQ VRPHWKLQJ LV DGGUHVVHG DV D ³OLIH-VW\OH GUXJ´ WKH IRUPXODWLRQ very often includes a self-sufficient moral justification that can be challenged only with much difficulty. Being relatively convincing in terms of bio-medical efficiency, critical discussions of Viagra have so far mainly been developed by ± apart from Christian blogs evaOXDWLQJWKHGUXJ¶VXVHIRUHLWKHUSURFUHDWLYHRUUHFUHDWLRQDO purposes ± WKH RIWHQIHPLQLVW ³/LEHUDO$UWV´FDPSZKHUH3IL]HU WKHPDNHU of Viagra) is reproached for its profit-oriented negation of any psychological, social, emotional, or relational components involved in impotency. Here one DGGUHVVHVWKHIDFWWKDW9LDJUDUHGXFHVDKROLVWLFPDVFXOLQHSUREOHP³WRRQO\ VL[LQFKHV RUVR RIDPDQ¶VERG\´ 3ODQWHS 2URQHFULWLFL]HV that Viagra sexuality is construed from a male point of view, which ignores the GLVWLQFWLYHQHVV RI IHPDOH VH[XDOLW\ &ULWLFLVP ULGLFXOHV 9LDJUD¶V PHFKDQLFDO LPDJHU\ RI D ³WHFKQR-IL[´ 9DUHV %UDXQ QRW RQO\ LQWHQVLI\LQJ WKH medicalization of impotency current since the early 1980s, but also making 2 THORSTEN BOTZ-BORNSTEIN ³VH[LQWRDPHGLFDOIXQFWLRQOLNHGLJHVWLRQ´ 7LHIHUS 9LDJUDUHQd- ers masculinity as a mere problem of chemical engineering, plumbing, and hydraulics. A further concern is that through Viagra, the traditional gender UROHRIWKH³SRWHQWPDQDQGWKHKDSS\ZRPDQ´LVUHVWRUHGZLWKRXWDQ\FULWLFDO revision (Loe, 2004, p. 21). Ironically, as long as it declares psychological, social, emotional, and re- lational components to be the monopoly of women, feminist discourse is re- sponsible for a reductionist sexuality ³:RPDQ¶V VH[XDO OLYHV DUH FRQWH[WXa- OL]HG´ ZULWHV /HRQRUH 7LHIHU EHFDXVH WKHLU VH[XDO H[SHULHQFHV GHSHQG PRUH RQ ³VRFLDO FRQWH[W UHODWLRQVKLS FXOWXUDO EDFNJURXQG SDVW VH[XDO H[Se- ULHQFHV ´WKDQRQJHQLWDOIXQFWLRQLQJ 7LHIHUS ,WZRXOGEHEHWWer to postulate such standards for sexual behavior in an ungendered fashion. While Viagra has changed the sex-life in industrialized countries, it is in- teresting to note that these changes did not come along as waves of a sexual revolution similar to what the industrialized world experienced in the 1970s, telling us that our sexual mores are too narrow, that we should liberate our- selves from taboos and social constraints. Viagra is the drug of a consumer society that has little time to reflect upon fundamental issues. As it stands, Viagra appears as the drug of a capitalist society convinced that any efficient medication approved by the state signifies progress and higher levels of hap- piness. It is therefore remarkably compatible with bourgeois lifestyle. Strange- ly, the few items that might strike us as provocative (such as embarrassing television ads) are quickly passed over. Contrary to what was the norm in the provocative 1970s, anything today that is potentially obscene is hastily stifled under a veil of utter normalcy. ,VD\³VWUDQJHO\´EHFDXVHSDUDGR[LFDOO\WKHH[LVWHQFHRI9LDJUDRZHVVR much to the culture of sexual liberation. Viagra values individualism and self- improvement as well as the eschewal of external authority except for the scien- tific one. Other preconditions for the successful implementation of Viagra have been established through a more hidden agenda. OQHRIWKH³VLGHHIIHFWV´ of sexual liberation is that it brought about a sense of competitiveness in the realm of sexuality that would have been unthinkable in earlier decades. These changes seem to have made Viagra more necessary than ever. Allan Bloom speaks out as somebody who knows what sexuality was like in the 1950s: In the past a man could think he was doing a wonderful thing for a wom- an, and expect to be admired for what he brought. But that was before he could be pretty sure that he was being compared and judged, which is GDXQWLQJ « ,WLVHDVLHUIRUPHQWRJHWJUDWLILFDWLRQWKDQLWXVHGWREH « %XWDWOHDVWVRPHRIWKHVHDGYDntages for men are offset by nerv- ousness about their sexual performance. (Bloom, 1987, p. 124) While uncritical Viagra discourses seem to flow directly out of a culture that rationalizes and technicizes everything including sexuality, there is a paradox Introduction 3 that lets Viagra-enhanced sexuality stand out as a peculiar social phenomenon. While, on the one hand, sexuality is reduced to hydraulics and chemistry, on the other hand, large efforts are made to extend the scope of Viagra beyond the limits of the bedroom, granting male potency a quasi mythical status. For the most part, what is in question is not just sexual pleasure, but also old myths of male dominance applied to fields ranging from professionalism to creativi- ty. Elie Metchnikoff, a forerunner in techno-fix methods, insisted that sexual activity is connected to poetic genius (Marshall & Katz, 2002, p. 51). This PHDQVWKDWWKHUHFHQWWHUPLQRORJLFDOVKLIWIURP³LPSRWHQF\´WR³HUHFWLOHG\s- IXQFWLRQ´ LV RQO\ FRVPHWLF ,Q UHDOLW\ WKH ³SOXPELQJ SUREOHP´ LV VWLll per- ceived as a chaUDFWHUIODZDQG³IL[LQJ´WKHSUREOHPFRXOGWUDQVIRUPDPDQ¶V life. 2. Viagra and Philosophy Lafontaine reminds us that not only Viagra, but also impotence is a phenome- non engendered by civilization because, under natural conditions, very few individuals could reach or outlive the age of reproduction (Lafontaine, 2009, p. 61). It seems that, at the culminating point of this development of civiliza- tion, Viagra has become the symbol of modernity concentrating in itself a sort of