James Giles
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James Giles has a wide range of research interests, including personal identity, the self, sexual desire, sexual attraction, cross-sex friendships and romantic love. He is the originator of the vulnerability and care theory of love, the theory of sexual desire as an existential need, and the naked love theory of human hairlessness and its relation to the evolution of romantic love. According to his account, sexual desire, which is integral to romantic love, is neither a social construction nor a biological drive. Rather, it is an existential need based on the universal experience of the incompleteness of gender. He is the first scholar to draw a clear distinction between sexual attraction and physical attraction, showing how sexual attraction is based on the experience of what he calls "allure". Dr Giles is the author of A Study in Phenomenalism, The Search for Personal Identity, and The Nature of Sexual Desire, Sexual Attraction: the Psychology of Allure, and is on the Editorial Board of the journal Personal Relationships. His research has been featured in several Canadian, Australian, and U.S. newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal. He has been interviewed in such places as Nature, Men's Health, The Walrus Magazine, KUAM-TV, ABC Radio National.
Primary Interests:
- Close Relationships
- Gender Psychology
- Interpersonal Processes
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Self and Identity
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
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Video Gallery
Love, Vulnerability, and Care
Books:
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Giles, J. (2017) Sexual Essays: Gender, Desire, and Nakedness
- Linked image: Sexual Essays
- Giles, J. (2015). Sexual attraction: The psychology of allure. Santa Barbra, CA: Praeger Publishers
- Giles, J. (2004). The nature of sexual desire. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. (Paperback edition by University Press of America, 2008).
- Giles, J. (1999, Editor). French existentialism: Consciousness, ethics, and relations with others. Amsterdam and Atlanta : Rodopi.
- Giles, J. (1997). No self to be found: The search for personal identity. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
- Giles, J. (1994). A study in phenomenalism. Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University.
Journal Articles:
- Giles, J. (2015). Hakuin, scepticism, and seeing into one's own nature, Asian Philosophy, 25, 81-98
- Giles, J. (2013). Darwin at 200 versus Kierkegaard at 200, Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, 61, 8-12.
- Giles, J. (2013). The metaphysics of awareness in the philosophy of Laozi. International Philosophical Quarterly, 53, 435-451.
- Giles, J. (2012). Adult baby syndrome and age identity disorder: Comment on Kise and Ngyun (2011). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 4, 321-322.
- Giles, J. (2010). Naked love: The evolution of human hairlessness. Biological Theory, 5, 326-336.
- Giles, J. (2008). Sex hormones and sexual desire. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 38, 45-66.
- Giles, J. (2006). No such thing as excessive levels of sexual behavior: A response to Langstrom and Hanson. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, 641-642.
- Giles, J. (2006). Social constructionism and sexual desire. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 36, 226-238.
- Giles, J. (2002). Electroconvulsive therapy and the fear of deviance. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 32, 340-363.
- Giles, J. (2001). From inwardness to emptiness: Kierkegaard and Yogacara Buddhism, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 9, 311-340.
Other Publications:
- Giles, J. (2013). Love, vulnerability, and care. (Videoed lecture, London, TED.com.)
- Giles, J. (2012). Hairless skin and romantic love: The naked love theory. (Guest contributor post, Science of Relationships.)
- Giles, J. (2011). Faith, Blaise Pascal, The Other, and Suicide. In Jack Reynolds, Felicity Joseph, and Ashley Woodward (eds), Continuum Companion to Existentialism. London: Continuum.
- Giles, J. (2011). The naked love theory. La Trobe University Podcast [MP3 10.7MB].
James Giles
Institute for Continuing Education
Madingley Hall
Madingley CB23 8AQ
United Kingdom
