“In no sense other than an utterly trivial one is reproduction the inverse of chemical disintegration. It is a misunderstanding of genetics to suppose that reproduction is only 'intended' to make facsimiles, for parasexual processes of genetical exchange are to be found in the simplest living things.”

— Peter Medawar

1960s, Review of Teilhard de Chardin's "The Phenomenon of Man", 1961

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Peter Medawar 40

scientist 1915–1987

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“The common characteristic of all perversions, on the other hand, is that they have abandoned reproduction as their aim.”

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We term sexual activity perverse when it has renounced the aim of reproduction and follows the pursuit of pleasure as an independent goal. And so you realize that the turning point in the development of sexual life lies in its subjugation to the purpose of reproduction. Everything this side of the turning point, everything that has given up this purpose and serves the pursuit of pleasure alone, must carry the term "perverse" and as such be regarded with contempt.
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, 1920, preface by G. Stanley Hall, Twentieth Lecture: General Theory of the Neuroses, The Sexual Life of Man, New York, Boni and Liveright, p. 273. (reprinted 1975 by Pocket pub. ISBN 0671800329 ISBN 978-0671800321and 2012 by Emereo Publishing, ISBN 9781486414147 http://books.google.com/books?id=zCgFAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA273&dq=%22common+characteristic+of+all+perversions%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VaQtUvq2H4bS9gSy3YCoCQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22common%20characteristic%20of%20all%20perversions%22&f=false (Harvard sociologist and a founder of the Rural Sociological Society Carle C. Zimmerman (1897-1983) notes the following in regard to Freud's early thinking on human sexuality: "Nor did the atheist Sigmund Freud perceive any difficulty in detecting the intrinsic perversity of contraception and allied deviations." see, Marriage and the Family, A Text for Moderns, (1956), Carl C. Zimmerman, Ph.D., Lucius F. Cervantes, S.J., PhD. (Harvard, Regis), Regnery, Chicago, Ill., p. 329. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4518815;view=1up;seq=347 http://books.google.com/books?id=Jt9-AAAAIAAJ&q=%22common+characteristic+of+all+perversions%22&dq=%22common+characteristic+of+all+perversions%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=by3cU-y9OsOhyAS2loKgAw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg
1920s

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Peter Medawar 40

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