lust

Lust is a craving for sexual intimacy, sometimes to the point of assuming a self-indulgent character. Lust, or a desire for the flesh of another, is considered a sin in the three major Abrahamic religions when indulged outside of marriage.

The link between love and lust has always been a problematic question in philosophy. Arthur Schopenhauer noted the misery which results from sexual relationships. According to him, this directly explains the sentiments of shame and sadness which tend to follow the act of sexual intercourse. For, he states, the only power that reigns is the inextinguishable desire to face, at any price, the blind love present in human existence without any consideration of the outcome. He estimates that a genius of his species is an industrial being who wants only to produce, and wants only to think. The theme of lust for Schopenhauer is thus to consider the horrors which will almost certainly follow the culmination of lust.