Human Nature and Sexual Conduct

: In this chapter, Henning applies John Dewey’s pragmatist ethics to sexual conduct, arguing for a sexual ethic rooted in education, experimentation, and imagination rather than rigid prohibitions. Henning argues that Dewey’s Human Nature and Conduct (1922) provides a framework for understanding sex as an experience that intertwines nature and culture, habit and impulse, and personal and social meaning. Henning shows how Dewey’s concept of habit formation highlights how sexual norms are transmitted culturally, often through prohibition, secrecy, and shame. This repression leads to miseducation, with adolescents turning to internet pornography for sexual knowledge, reinforcing narrow and misleading sexual scripts. A Deweyan approach would foster openness, aesthetic awareness, and moral imagination, allowing individuals to explore sexuality as part of a dynamic and humane ethical life. Dewey’s ethics emphasizes growth through deliberation and imaginative play. Sexual education should recognize the complexity of desire, vulnerability, and intimacy. Henning concludes that rather than treating sexuality as a taboo, sex education should provide young people with the tools to engage responsibly and meaningfully with their evolving impulses.