Eros

Sex can be some of the best and worst of what happens between people from love affairs to paedophilia. So how are we to understand sexual excitement and its relationship to love and concern? Freud gave the name Eros to his concept of the Life Instinct the drive to endure and procreate. At best, imaginative activity, sexual desire and love all involve a multitude of connections within and between the people concerned. But is there a difference between daydreaming and the imaginative work involved in a relationship? And how can certain forms of sexual excitement allow destructive aspects of the self, and the humanity of the other person, to go unrecognised? Nicola Abel-Hirsch explores the concept of Eros through three main questions: What is sexuality? What is love? What is imagination?