Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.

November 29, 2006 4:51 PM

Please help me write a persuasive speech about libertinism.

I have to write a speech for a college course I am taking. I personally feel that two of the biggest challenges in a speech class are to 1. play devil's advocate, and 2. argue in favor of something you don't necessarily belive in.
Inspired by a book I am reading, and to create the most work for myself, I have decided to meet both of these challenges by writing my persuasive speech about the Marquis De Sade, and libertinism. But I'm not really sure what it is I intend to persuade listeners to think, or do, or not do. De Sade promotes a range of things from blasphemy to incest. Can you give me some ideas on a way to sum up the libertine philosophy in one core belief so that the package is nice and neat?

posted by Demogorgon to Religion & Philosophy (3 answers total)

IANAP (I am not a philosopher) but libertinism advocated stepping outside of societal norms for the sake of doing it, right? Sort of a precursor to hippy ideology. If it feels good, do it? Ultimately these are forms of elitism, so what you'll be advocating to your classmates is that it's okay for some people to do whatever they want whenever they want so long as most people don't do the same.

For reference watch Harold and Maude - it's a hippy polemic where the protagonists are narcissistic elitists.

You could also read up on the whole Dan Quayle, Murphy Brown, Guardrails thing where Quayle and other conservative leaders pointed out that the fictional character Brown could have a kid out of wedlock on a whim because she was an elite but that in reality single-motherhood isn't that great and Hollywood really shouldn't be advocating it...
posted by wfrgms at 5:27 PM on November 29, 2006

wfrgms has some of this right, the part about the categorical imerative anyway. IANAPeither, but I don't think Murphy Brown can be called a libertine... libertines are essentially torturers, right? 30 Days of Sodom and all?

Libertinism is very well analyzed as a non-sensible conclusion to previously sensible premises of enlightenment thought in "Juliette or Enlightenment and Morality" by Adorno and Horkheimer. A read over that would benefit you. It would be pretty easy to use it to create an anti-libertinist argument. Unexpected citations are a good thing in undergrad. Also see Salo if you can get your hands on it.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 6:30 PM on November 29, 2006

Wow, great article wfrgms. I've been meaning to see Salo for a while Ambrosia Voyeur, so maybe this is the time.
I agree that it would be hard to call Murphy Brown a libertine, but her choice would certainly be supported by most libertines, I think.
While De Sade does advocate torture, he also seems to advocate pain as it is being experienced by the victim. His whole outlook on the human experience appears as though it is divided strictly into feelings of pleasure, and feelings of pain.
Thank you both, this will definitely help me to get started.
posted by Demogorgon at 8:25 PM on November 29, 2006