Human Intercourse: Intercourse with Nature and Intercourse with the Other

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This overview has been produced partially in support of the proposed
Declaration of Responsibilities of Human Intercourse (2007).

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Introduction

Human intercourse has been considered, from a wide variety of angles, by several disciplines, including literary studies, sociology, linguistics and philosophy. Recent work in the fields of intellectual history, historical semantics, the history of philosophy and the history of civilization can be seen as providing a set of complementary approaches for investigating the history of human intercourse.

To the extent that intercourse by humans requires an Other with which to engage, the table presented in the following section on "Intercourse with the Other" provides a tentative schema within which to indicate various forms of encounter. This notably includes links on to the subsequent section combining citations regarding "Human Intercourse" and "Intercourse with Nature".

The original intention was to identify citations regarding modes of "intercourse with the divine", as a complement to these citations on "human intercourse" and "intercourse with nature". Although many relevant citations are to be found in the literature on mysticism, the most insightful do not necessarily use the term "intercourse" -- although this is indeed a very common metaphor in some mystical poetry. The project was therefore generalized to include intercourse with various forms of "other" -- distinct from purely "human intercourse" and from "intercourse with nature". Since this is a larger challenge, the focus in the table below is on identifying domains in which such distinct forms of intercourse are to be found -- without seeking supporting citations.

It is especially relevant to note that what is essential to any of the forms of intercourse to which pointers are offered (notably in the table) is the subjective dimension of the experience. Its nature may be questioned, denied, or reframed within a preferred explanatory framework, but this may do little to change the potentially transformative learning consequences of that intercourse.

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